LAST WORD IN FUR FARMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 277, 23 November 1938, Page 5

LAST WORD IN FUR FARMS.

GOAT FOR £12,000. STORY OF CHINCHILLA. I HOW IT WAS SAVED FROM EXTINCTION. •Tust a little over three years ago Dolores and Jose Chinchilla arrived bv airplane in Idaho Falls, Being hardly any larger than their names, they arrived in a crate the size of a shoe box. And being gentle creatures, they raised no fuss whatever about the discomforts of the trip from California, or about their unpretentious accommodation. In fact, absolutely no fuss was made by anyone, and residents of surrounding States wound their alarm clocks that without the slightest realisation that the day had been a momentous one --that a strange new industry had been introduced into the inter-mountain West. One man, however, had a vision of what the commercial importance of the chinchilla might be. M. L. Weaver, owner of Dolores and .Tose, saw that the industry was barely in its infancy. Equally important, he saw that the cool, high climate of the inter-mountain West provided a logical home for the chinchilla industry, since the natural habitat of these animals is on the high slopes of the Andes. He had learned that many authorities firmly believe the chinchilla to be definitely extinct, except for a few hundred pair that are in captivity. He knew that during the gay 'nineties the civilised world was using several hundred pelts each year, and crying for more. And he knew that since 1928 furriers have been able to assemble only one very short coat of chinchilla —that a full-length wrap would be worth £12.000. Providing you could find the skins. Used for Inca Robes. The history of the few hundred existing chinchilla*! is as colourful as. any Arabian Nights story and goes back 400 years to the conquest of South America by the Spaniards. They found the fabulously wealthy Incaa using the fur in their ceremonial rol>es. The fur melted from a smoky grey to pearly white with each movement of the wearer's body. It was so light and pliable it could be used to decorate the filmiest of silks, so soft that the coarser skin of the palm failed to record the moment of contact. And it was so warm that it« tiny owner ventured abroad during the 30-below night* of his Andean home rather than face the heat of the day's sun. Europeans went mad about it. Kings and royalty used it for the most beautiful and gorgeous robes of state. From that time on it was worth a king's ransom. In addition to its beauty they soon found the chinchilla to be an elusive little animal. Many men gave their lives in the hunt, for it lived at an altitude of 12.000 feet. During the day the heat Mas too much for an unprotected white man —and vet within 24 hours the temperature would drop to Arc<tic coldness. But anything so beautiful and desirable to mankind is doomed to extinction, and even with all these obstacles, each rear saw hundreds of thousands of pelts shipped out of South America. By 1000 the pelt« were becoming really scarce and the Government# of Chile. Pern and Bolivia prohibited them. But even so. by 1010 the chinchilla was extinct as an article of commerce. The Transplantation. An American engineer, Mr. M. E. Chapman, of the Anaconda Copper Company, who had long made zoology his hobby, had been aware of the slaughter for some time. One day an Indian came to his home with a live chinchilla in an oil can, and Mr. Chapman became bo interested in domesticating the little animal that he decided to experiment with breeding them in captivity if it were possible to get a pair. Consequently he grubstaked two dozen Indians, who finally, after three years of great hardship, delivered five males and three females to Mr. Chapman. These eight animals are probably the ancestors of all living chinchillas, including Dolores and Jose, of Idaho Falls. But it was a long, arduous migration, which cost many years and thousands of dollars. Other men had tried to take the tiny animal to various parts of the world, but the moment the animals were caged and brought to lower levels they collapsed and died. Not once, was anyone successful in transplanting them. Mr. Chapman succeeded, where others failed, by the simple expedient of bringing his animals down a few thousand feet a year, until he had spent seven years in getting them to sea level. It took three years of unremitting patience before Nature asserted itself and the little strangers became acclimatised to the North Temperate Zone. They began to thrive, and finally to breed. Nearly Wiped Out. There was much to be learned about housing and feeding their charges, principally by the trial and error method; but the experiment went along smoothly to the point where the Chapmans called their place a chinchilla "farm" and could proudly show 60 pairs of healthy young animals as the result of their work. New hazards arose. An international intrigue nearly wiped out the entire life work of Mr. Chapman, and, incidentally, the brilliant future of the chinchilla industry. Hearing about the experiment, a Swiss syndicate decided that this was a good time to get in the business. So they sent an agent to Mr. Chapman with £200,000, offering to buy all his chinchillas. Figuring that if they were worth that much to the Swiss syndicate, they must be worth still more to him, Mr. Chapman decided to keep the business in the United States. He refused to sell. But the agent and some friends stole half the chinchillas and escaped with them to Germany. However, owing to the thief's ignorance of care and feeding, the stolen animals all died. Fortunately the remaining 30 pairs throve and multiplied. Friendly Except to Snakes. And what does a chinchilla really look like ? Well, if no one told you what you were looking at, you would say from its size that it looked like a young rabbit. Not counting the tail, which is rather like a chipmunk's, the chinchilla is probably ten inches long. It has a twitchy little white nose with long whiskers, and pink, transparent ears. It has tiny, black padded feet which look much too small to be of any use. The fur is one and a half inches long, rippling from gray-white ori itback to white on the underside. Under the mkroeeope it is eeen that «ach juur

follicle is finer than thread spun by a silkworm—finer even than a spider's web! It is ten inches lonir. i". weighs 20oz, and it costs £320. Much more valuable than gold! For all he is so expensive, he's a friendly little fellow. During the day he sleeps; but at night he conies out and frisks around, doing his feeding in the early morning and evening. His inquisitive nature makes it possible to feed him from your hand after a short period' of becoming acquainted. Other than its fleetness, the chinchilla has no means of self-protection except a couple of exceedingly sharp little teeth. When a snake ha* designs on a chinchilla he finds he's made a grave mistake, for the "chin" dashes 111 like a flash and, with just one telling bite back of the head, completely finishes Mr. Snake's chance for a long and happy life. Even with this weapon, it allows strangers to handle and pet it. Most Expensive Coat on Record. In his native state Mr. Chinchilla was a polygamous creature, one male and several females forming a colony. He was not, however, boss in his own home, and if he was untrue to his harem the females killed him without further delay. The habit of polygamy has been largely overcome during their period of domestication, and they now mate for life, though occasionally a female \vjll be difficult to please in* her choice of a mate. J heir food has l>een rather simple, consisting of rolled oats, kernels of corn, alfalfa and dandelion greens. For tidbits they enjoy strained orange juice, walnut meat and raisins. The hope, of course, is to develop and breed bigger, stronger and more prolific chinchillas. A breeder's praver nii«*ht well be "Please let mv chins have quins!" Ranch owners estimate that it will be from 10 to 2T> years before the breeding stock will be replenished sufficiently for pelting. In the meantime, several crops of chorines will come and go witlitVl.*' e y en a "host of a chance at a chinchilla wrap. The only possible exception to the rule of no peltin<* will be the casualty pelts, which in all probability wont average more than 50 a year. It has been said that I<>.3 would be the minimum required for a coat. The most expensive coat on record was a chinchilla which sold in Paris for £50,000. Industry Now Well Rooted. To appreciate the potential magnitude of the industry you must know that the parent ranch at lnglewood. California, is already valued at nearly £400.000. Except for this original ranch, all of them are in the inter-mountain country. The people of Utah have been among the first to realise the possibilities, having six ranches of the existing ten. Ranchers confidently expect to produce a finer pelt than the world has ever seen. There are many reasons for this. The animal will not' have the hazards of wild life and there will be no inbreeding. Heretofore, the world has been able to get only summer skins, due to the rigorous Andean winter. However, the winter coat is vastly superior to the lighter summer fleeces.

The industry is now well rooted and can no longer be considered an experiment. A pair of live chinchillas cost £640.