CONTINUED EXPANSION

Evening Star, Issue 22276, 29 February 1936, Page 8

CONTINUED EXPANSION

FUR RANCHING IN CANADA Fur ranching in Canada continues to expand, according to figures on the industry issued by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. The total value of fur-bearinn animals on the farms at the end of 1934 was 8,428,000d0l (£1 685,600), an increase on the previous year of nearly a million dollars. The revenue received by the tur farms from the sale of live animals and pelts was 4,539,000d0l (£901,800), compared with 4,067,000d0l (£813,200), in 1933. The silver fox lepresents 92 per cont. of the total value of animals roared on farms. Next in importance is the mink. In 1934 there were 6,083 fo:: farms in the Dominion and 624 mink farms. There were also 182 raccoon ranches, while over 100 farms raised a number of otlwe fur-bearing animals While the fur trade was the original industry of Canada in pioneer days, the fur farm is a comparatively recent institution, having had its inception in or about 1878, when foxes were first raised within wire enclosures in the province of Prince Edward Island. Gradually fox farming spread through the various provinces of the Dominion. The value of pelts of fur-bred animals now represents over 30 per cent, of the total raw fur production of the country. The percentage _ seems destined to continue to rise as fur ranching spreads further and the natural haunts of wild animals become further constricted through the advance of industrial development northward.