Page 215 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ASIAN GAME 193
Destruction of Animals for Fur.—In the far North, pnly the in- terior of Kamchatka seems to be safe from the iron heel of the skin- hunter. AglanceatthelistoffurssoldinLondonlastyearrevealsone or two things that are disquieting. The total catch of furs for the year 1911 is enormous,—considering the great scarcity of wild life on two continents. Incidentally it must be remembered that every trapper carries a gun, and in studying the fur list one needs no help in trying to imagine the havoc wrought with firearms on the edible wild life of the regions that contributed all that fur. I have been told by trappers that as a class, trappers are great killers of game.
In order that the reader may know by means of definite figures the extent to which the world is being raked and combed for fur-bearing animals, we append below a statement copied from the Fur News Mag- azine for November, 1912, of the sales of the largest London fur house during the past two years.
With varying emotions we call attention to the wombat of Australia, 3,841; grebe, 51.261, and house cat, 92,407. Very nearly all the totals of Lampson & Co. for each species are much lower for the sales of 1912 thanforthoseof1911. IsthisfactsignificantofasteadydecHne?
Furs Sold By C. M. Lampson & Co., London
Totals for igii, Skins
Raccoon 354,057 Musquash (Muskrat) 3,382,401 Musquash, Black 78,363 Skunk 1,310,185 Cat, Civet 329,180 Opossum, American 1,011,824 Mink 183,574 Marten 29,881 Fox, Red
Totals for 1912, Skins
215,626 2,937,150 60,000 979,612 229,155 948,189 100,951 26,895 40,300 1,569 590 32,471 35,222 13,341 1,778 13,899 202 29,740 65,641 5,144 656 15,325 17,036
13,377 74,535 1,172 5,378 19,571 1,453 8,972
58,900 1,294 761 43,909 30,278 16,709 3,137 Otter 17,399
Fox, Cross Fox, Silver Fox, Grey Fox, Kit Fox, White Fox, Blue
Sea Otter
Cat, Wild, etc Cat, House Lynx
Fisher
Badger Beaver
Bear
Wolf Wolverine Hair Seal, Dry Grebe
Fur Seal, Dry Sable, Russian
328 38,870 92,407 2,424 1,918 16,338 21,137 16,851 65,893 1,530 6,465 51,261 897 10,285