The highest quality is the pure black. Year after year there has been an increased demand for the black and a steady increase in price."
The only rivals of the native black and silver black fox are the almost extinct sea otter, the Russian sable and the South American chinchilla. The island's cool damp climate and non-alkaline soil produces the heaviest, glossiest fur yielded by the fox family. Ninety per cent, of the world's captive foxes are held by 128 individuals or companies on Prince Edward Island's 300 ranches. The latest Government estimate of the value of old and young Blacks, Silver Blacks, Silvers, Patches, Reds and Blues contained therein is more than $15,000,000.[1]
The ranches are enclosed by a high wire netting bent over at the top and under at the bottom to prohibit the possibility of the occupants leaping or gnawing their way to freedom. Within the enclosure, pairs are divided from other pairs by aisles and fences. Each fox is provided with a sanitary sleeping pen. Reared for generations in captivity, most of them from Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland stock, the parent foxes and particularly the lithe keen little pups are frequently on playful terms with their guards, some
- ↑ Fur buyers designate as "silver" all shades of grey and black. A writer of 1806 enumerates the red, grey and black fox as inhabiting the island and declares that "sometimes five or six have been shot by one person in the course of a few hours." Wild mink and marten are also abundant on the island.
