Fur Market Update: Gloomy Outlook Ahead of Major Auction Dates

The latest forecast in the fur market doesn’t look good.  A Vancouver Sun article describes the recent drop in fur sales with a quote from North American Fur Auctions’ vice president Dave Bewick:

“The wheels fell off in September,” Bewick said in an interview. “And nobody’s really bought any fur from us, nobody’s really inquired about fur and nobody really knows what fur is going to be worth this year. The whole economic situation in the world is in a bit of turmoil right now the fur industry is certainly part of that.”

You can read the whole article here.

NAFA holds its first major fur sale on January 7th, while Fur Harvesters Auctions holds its sale on January 9th.   These sales will play a large part in setting fur prices for the rest of the season.  We’ll be sure to relay the results here on Trapping Today as soon as possible.

Fur Industry Has Changed, But it Ain’t Dead!

There’s no question that the fur market has changed considerably over the years.  What once was an industry that many Americans made their living from (including trapping, pelt handling, tanning, coat manufacturing and more) has evolved into hobby with supplemental income for most, supporting only a few remaining full time trappers and fur handlers.

The last great fur boom occurred in the 1980’s, when skyrocketing fur prices sent multitudes of new trappers into the field with the hopes of making a living off the land.  Since then, both fur prices and trapper numbers have waned, and North America’s fur harvest is only a small fraction of what it once was.

Still, the fur industry is alive in the United States, primarily fueled by demand for fur garments from Asian and European markets.  Old trappers die out, new ones are introduced to the game, and groups of enthusiastic fur harvesters fight to maintain these traditional practices in the face of ever-increasing urbanization.

The Mifflin Lakes Fur Company of Ohio is one of those companies that’s still alive in spite of a downsized market.  In his Ashland Times-Gazette article, Ted Claar gives an overview of the company, the past and present of the fur industry, and the need for continued sustainable harvest of furbearing animals.

After a brief overview of fur market history, Claar explains the downturn in the market since the 1980’s:

According to Bright, the fur industry has changed dramatically since the early 1980s due largely to animal rights organizations. Since that time, humans have sought to develop man-made faux furs using non-renewable petroleum resources. Many of the non-natural furs and clothing produced from the petro-chemicals are non-biodegradable and will remain in landfills for centuries.

And with the decline in the fur industry, furbearer populations have been more difficult to keep in check:

The drop in demand for animal furs has led to fewer trappers and therefore an over abundance of furbearers.

Raccoons invade corn fields and raid farm grain bins and barns. The farmer, to maintain his livelihood, often has no choice but to dispatch the pests.

An uncontrolled population of muskrats and beavers can undermine earthen farm ponds, dikes and levees leading to destabilization. Pond owners often must resort to shooting the pests and leaving the bodies and furs to rot.

Animal populations certainly have a way of getting out of control in the absence of human intervention, particularly when a free service (population control via regulated trapping) has gone by the wayside.

Claar and the folks he interviewed don’t seem to see a very bright future in the fur market:

The future of the fur business looks dismal. An exploding supply of furbearers, coupled with a forced decrease in the market, is not favorable to the business or the animals.

I tend to disagree.  Perhaps it’s my sometimes optimistic nature, but I like to think that the fur industry will bounce back.  Recent economic downturn aside, we have expanding markets in Russia and China, and as other developing nations continue to experience economic growth, demand for fur will only increase.

Kudos to Claar for a great, informative article.  I only hope the future of the fur industry is brighter than some people tend to predict.  I do  know one thing: as long as there is a market to sell fur, there will be trappers like us out there harvesting furbearers, and enjoying every minute of it!

Maine Fur Auction Results

Below are the results of a fur auction held in York County, Maine last week.  The sale was relatively small, but may give guys a bit of a clue about where fur prices are headed this season.

These results and others are available on the Maine Trappers Association website.

If you have any fur auction results from your area, feel free to post in the comments section here.

GRAY FOX  24.1120.0421.32

The River Otter

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has put together an excellent summary of information on the North American river otter, a species pursued by trappers in many U.S. states. The article was recently published in a Stueben County, New York newspaper.

Click here to read the article.

It doesn’t get into otter trapping, but does give some good background biological information on the otter.

Trapping Is Humane

Amongst the mayhem of recent lawsuits by environmental groups to ban certain types of trapping in Maine to ‘protect’ Canada lynx, much discussion has ensued on message boards, blogs and various other websites.

Many questions have risen about trapping, as a larger base of the uninformed public has started hearing more about this issue and wants more background.

In one of those discussion sessions, a young biology student provided some great answers and insight on trapping.  With her permission, I’ve printed her response to some non-trapper comments below:

Since another commenter asked, I’ll tell you how you trap and release a lynx in a foothold without any damage. Trappers and biologists do it the very same way; by using a snare pole, aka catchpole or dog-catcher pole. If you’ve ever watched “Animal Cops” you’ve seen them use snare poles on housecats that are feral without any harm coming to them. Unlike coyotes, beavers and raccoons, bobcat and lynx are not trap fighters. This means that after a few initial test tugs and leaps, the bobcat/lynx settles down in a crouch and lets his camouflage hide him. They just sit there with a heavy cold bracelet on their paw. Wearing a heavy bracelet that might be chilly, depending on weather conditions, but animals have fur and tough pads on the bottom of their paws. Just how cold it is on the paw is debatable, but I know that when I ice my wrist after straining it, my discomfort comes from from the ice pack being directly on my bare skin, and lessens to a mere annoyance when I put a thin cotton sleeve on my arm. Since fur is a much better insulator than cotton, my personal belief is that a bobcat/lynx isn’t feeling significant discomfort from the trap’s temperature.

Traps themselves look like scary devices, but much like a doctor’s needle, aren’t as bad when you actually see them in action. Trappers getting their fingers caught while setting foothold traps is a common occurrence, and they do sting, but they do not break people’s fingerbones. They sting a person because human hands lack hard, tough pads and a protective layer of fur. Also, traps are usually buried under dirt, snow and/or ice, or are underwater when triggered by an animal, and lose power pushing up through these barriers. The trapper feels the full-force but the animal does not. I have never seen a bobcat with so much as broken skin in a foothold trap. The only indicator of a trap is typically fur that is creased in a line on the top of the paw. Most trappers check daily, as a trap that already has an animal in it cannot catch a new one until you remove the previous animal. The trapper wants to also re-set traps that have been fired but not caught anything to get them back in working order asap. The 24 hour check rule is useful, as it allows trappers to respond to family emergencies, etc without getting some sort of fine or penalty. The rule itself, as just explained, is not the incentive to check daily.

The traps set for bobcats, using bobcat urine and other lures, may attract lynx, but lynx are bigger, stronger animals. The small traps set for bobcats is not going to harm a lynx, which may be able to extract himself on his first surprise leap after the trap has fired. The lynx that do stay in a trap sometimes could have pulled out if they had only fought, but many times they just sit down. The trapper simply sees that he/she has caught a lynx, identifiable by the giant snowshoe paws, it’s large size and distinctive tail…and retrieves the catch-pole from his/her vehicle. Catch poles are standard equipment. While the lynx is safely restrained by the pole, the trapper then depresses the foothold’s spring with his/her boot. The lynx is now free of the trap, and the trapper can watch how it walks and bears it’s weight. If the lynx seems to be injured, in any way, or have a disease such as parvo, rabies, mange or distemper, he/she can call wildlife or game officials to come get it. If the lynx is feisty and healthy, the trapper simply opens the loop on the pole and the lynx is free.

Biologists foothold trap lynx, otter, and other species to collar, release or re-locate animals all the time. That’s right, biologists use footholds. They are simply restraining devices for land animals larger than rats/weasels. The only reason trappers are demonized is because very few people trap in the US, less than 1% of the population. The general public is ignorant about trapping, and has been made afraid of it by tales from the days of pioneers, Indian fighting and slavery. Comparing the trappers of the 1800’s to today’s trappers and calling it bad is as ridiculous as blaming today’s cotton farmers for slavery. Everybody knows a deer hunter, and can ask a deer hunter questions, but with trapping, it’s hard to find a person who does it and can answer your questions and alleviate your fears. I thought trapping was bad before I became a biology student and saw it done in the field.

Trappers do it as a hobby because they generally love nature and the outdoors, they care about species as a whole, they just don’t sentimentalize and romanticize the individual members of the species. Trappers want a healthy lynx population, and they like to assist biologists and conservation officers. Their reports on animal movements, numbers harvested in different regions, etc, helps scientists to understand this creature better. They pay license fees that support biological study and conservation.

There is absolutely no incentive for a Maine trapper to harvest a lynx, as no tannery would accept one without a CITIES tag on it, no fur buyer would risk his license and jail time over a lynx pelt, and no auction house accepts bobcat/lynx pelts that don’t have proper tags on them. Tags are provided by the state wildlife agency, and are not provided for lynx in Maine, as they are not legal harvest. The fact that trap size and trap check times are regulated by the state means the lynx is already protected when it comes to footholds. No lawsuit about it is necessary. You can release a lynx from a foothold, but you cannot release a lynx from the bumper of a car! If it really was about protecting animals, there would be a push to ban vehicles in the areas that lynx dwell. Trappers are not happy about these proposed “restrictions” because they are a thinly veiled attempt to try and stop trapping in general, for any reason.

So, if trapping is demonized wrongly, you may wonder why. Long ago a white man who called himself ‘Grey Owl” and pretended to be an Indian, lied to crowds in England about life in the new world and trapping. Even after he was exposed as a 100% Caucasian charlatan, his lies and made up horror stories about trapping persisted. His book was a best-seller, and ever since the 1800’s, groups of people have tried to make money off of an ignorant public, begging for donations to “stop horror, stop cruelty.” I’ve seen trapping done in the course of my biology study and I can tell you that it’s nothing like what the anti-trappers describe. The videos out there on places like You-Tube were animal snuff films with altered and tampered traps that were de-bunked as set-up and staged long ago. The media no longer plays such films on the news channels because the films were determined to be not genuine examples of trapping, but staged snuff films. If you examine the “Crying Shame” video on You-Tube, one can clearly see the water line of the fish-tank the film-makers were using to depict a beaver in a trap. It’s a fake setup for all of these propaganda films, and the fact that there was an attempt to submit “blogs” as evidence here makes me shake my head at just how gullible people can be. Blogs can be made by anyone, and I’m hopeful that the judge will continue to be fair concerning this matter. There’s too much hate against trappers and fur-wearers right now to expect the kind of cooperation and understanding between conservationists and trappers like there was in Teddy Roosevelt’s day, but, hopefully, with some education and awareness, trappers will be appreciated again.

Judge Rejects Request to Stall Trapping in Lynx Habitat in Maine

Maine trappers won a small victory this week when the federal judge overseeing a lawsuit by anti-trapping groups rejected their request to restrict trapping in lynx habitat for the rest of the season.

The request to cut the trapping season short in lynx habitat came after a second lynx was killed in a trap in northern Maine, prompting arguments that the state’s trapping laws didn’t do enough to prevent incidental lynx takings.  However, an investigation  into the second lynx incident showed that the trap was set illegally, by an out-of-state trapper, who will likely be charged with violating the Federal Endangered Species Act.

I believe Judge Woodcock used good common sense when issuing his ruling.  Here’s part of his response.

“Here, the plaintiffs have demonstrated that if a trapper violates Maine law and regulation, it may and likely will result in the illegal taking of a lynx,” Woodcock wrote. “However, plaintiffs have produced no new evidence of harm to lynx caused by trappers acting in compliance with existing state law.

“Accordingly, plaintiffs have not shown that the state’s licensure scheme as recently modified violates the [Endangered Species Act],” Woodcock wrote.

While this week’s news was good for trappers, we aren’t anywhere near hearing the last of this.  The lawsuit to ban trapping in northern Maine in order to protect lynx is ongoing, and is scheduled for trial in front of Judge Woodcock in Bangor in mid-April.

Fur Market Update

Lots of people are still asking questions about the state of the fur market this year.  The fact that the Trapper magazine and Fur-Fish-Game magazine each came out with polar opposite market reports this month further raises questions about the situation.  F-F-G was quite optimistic, while the Trapper was extremely cautious and negative about wild fur prices this year, based on the state of the economy.

No major auctions have taken place yet this year.  When the big international auction results come out, we’ll know much more about the fur market.  Unfortunately, it may be too late by then to make decisions about what to do with your pelts.

For now, we’ll have to rely on local fur buyer results.  Most reports from trappers at trapperman.com point to a slightly weaker market at this point, but one that is much better than expected by many trappers and speculators, based on the current state of our economy.

As many of the auction houses are stating, much of the market will depend on demand from places like Russia and China, and a very mild winter in Russia is affecting fur coat sales thus far.

We need to wait and see what the weather and fur prices do in the coming months, but for now, there’s no reason to panic.  Fur seems to be selling at satisfactory levels for many trappers out there.

Preparing Pelts is An Important Part of Trapping

Trapping isn’t all about catching critters in the field.  It’s also about skinning, stretching, and fleshing the hides of those animals to prepare them for the fur market.  A New York newspaper recently published a great story about a man that skins and prepares pelts for a living.

It’s a busy time for this guy during trapping season, since many trappers no longer have the time or resources to devote to preparing all of their furs.

Wilson, 38, skins and fleshes the carcasses of trapped animals, getting the furs ready for buyers from Canada who in turn sell them to European and Asian markets.

“I pretty much do them all: coyote, muskrat, beaver, basically every animal in this area. I do several thousand every year,” he said, adding he’s been at it for more than 12 years.

I would challenge any beginning trapper to devote some time to learning the art of skinning, stretching and fleshing.  I’d also encourage one to participate in selling their fur at a local auction.  Catching an animal in the field and processing its pelt for market allows the trapper to capture the entire experience first hand.  In my opinion, processing your own pelts makes trapping a more meaningful experience.

Second Lynx Killed in Northern Maine

Another Canada lynx has been reported killed in a trap in northern Maine this week, but this time the animal was found dead by a Maine state game warden after following tracks in the woods.  This is the second lynx confirmed killed by trapping this year, further indicating that the lynx population is as abundant as it’s ever been, but its prey densities are declining, causing the animals to go to great lengths to find other sources of food.

We don’t yet know whether or not the animal was taken in a legal set.  The previous lynx was taken in a trap set whose legality was questionable, prompting clarification rules by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The animal rights groups suing the State of Maine for violation of the Endangered Species Act are certain to use this as an example of why they feel trapping should be shut down in the state.  We already know, from their past history and conversations with these groups and their members, that their goal is to end trapping, not to ‘recover’ lynx populations.

On Friday, members of WAM and the Animal Welfare Institute filed another petition urging the court to halt trapping with so-called “body-gripper” or Conibear traps in lynx territory, which would include all of northern Maine.

As an alternative, the groups recommended requiring that trappers in the Unorganized Territory check their Conibear traps every 24 hours. The current trap time is five days.

Incrementalism is how these groups eventually end up getting what they want.  I know many trappers in Maine and elsewhere who would not be able to operate a trapline on a 24 hour check.  I certainly wouldn’t.  Think of the guys who have a full time job and are running 50-100 marten traps on the side to supplement their income.  The full time trapper has been virtually eliminated from the state based on previous restrictive regulations.  I think this request is the last straw.

Trappers need to take a stand and stop giving in to these groups.  Remember, the lynx was wrongly listed under the Endangered Species Act in the first place, and all of these regulations stem from that ridiculous listing and the federal control and power that has resulted.

The future of trapping stands in the balance.  It’s time for trappers to fight for their rights.

Maine Trapping Laws Change Again, To Avoid Taking Lynx

After the accidental trapping death of a Canada lynx in northern Maine on November 17th, in the midst of a lawsuit by environmentalists aimed at halting trapping, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has adopted new regulations to avoid another such incident.

You can see the photo below, provided to the media by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.  It appears that the trap was actually set legally, according to the way that the regulations were worded.  Regulations at the time of the incident stated that these traps (conibears) needed to be set a minimum of 4 feet off the ground on a tree less than 4 inches in diameter, standing at a minimum of a 45 degree angle from the ground.  Looking at the photo, the set is legal by the books, but common sense-wise, it’s a terrible set because of its proximity to the large cedar tree.  The lynx obviously climbed up the large cedar tree and stuck its paw into the trap, trying to get to the bait in the box.  The real ironic thing about this whole situation is that if the set had been legal to make on the ground, the lynx would have been alive at the set and could have been released.  The apparent reason it died is that it couldn’t get down to the ground and was left hanging from the tree. The bugger just had to find a way to die, didn’t he?  Honestly, it looks like a suicide attempt!  But all kidding aside, this is a serious issue.

Regardless of how odd and unlikely an event, the animal was killed, and the Department, with orders from the Federal Judge, has issued emergency regulations to avoid such a situation in the future.  Tom Remington, at the Black Bear Blog, lists the specific regulations now in place.

· The trap must be at least four feet away from any bank (new);

· The trap must be affixed to a pole or tree that is no greater than 4 inches in diameter at 4 feet above the ground or snow level;

· If a pole is used, the pole must be a natural selection of tree, with or without bark, the sides of which have not been sawed, planed or otherwise altered to create a flat surface (new);

· The pole or tree to which the trap is affixed must be at an angle of 45-degrees or greater to the ground (old) the entire distance from the ground to the trap (new);

· The area within 4 feet of the trap in all directions must be free of trees, poles or other objects greater than 4 inches in diameter and must be free of all trees or poles that are slanted at an angle of less than 45 degrees to the ground at any point between the ground and the height of the trap (new);

Also newly added to the rule is a statement of its purpose, namely that conibear or killer-type traps are not to be placed in the vicinity of objects that make it easier for lynx to access the trap.

Now if you thought the trapping regulations are complicated enough, think about how difficult it will now be to find a situation where all of these requirements are met.  This is exactly what anti-trappers want.  More confusing regulations make it tougher for new people to get into trapping, and tougher for experienced trappers to remain effective.  Anything that makes trapping more difficult is (in their opinion) a step toward making it obsolete.  And of course, the anti trapping community is only opposing these regulations because they think that all trapping should be banned, and the regs allow for trapping to continue.  Here’s an anti quote from the Kennebec Journal article:

 ”We believe the emergency rules are a farce,” said Camilla Fox of the Animal Welfare Institute. “I know of no other state that has such complicated regulations regarding Conibear traps. And if the trappers were perplexed by the (prior) regulations, they will be utterly confused now.”

Of course no other state has such complicated regulations, Camilla!!!  That’s because you haven’t YET been to the other states with these ridiculous lawsuits to end trapping as we know it!  Minnesota, the other major state facing trapping lawsuits, has trapping regulations that are borderline as complicated as Maine’s due to these legal challenges.

I wish these people would just leave trappers alone!  Ruining our way of life is not going to save Canada lynx, and they know it.  The frustrating thing is that all of the scientific evidence points to no significant impact of trapping on lynx populations.  If wildlife management decisions were based on science, we wouldn’t be in this mess, and Maine’s trapping regulations would not have needed to be changed.

The Canada lynx population is very healthy in northern Maine.  Heck, guys can’t seem to keep them out of their traps.  What does that tell you?  We’re dealing with a species that does not need federal protection, a species that is at the southern edge of its range in Maine, and can be legally trapped just across the border in Canada.

This causes a huge dilemma. We are in a situation where a species was listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act, when in fact its population was healthier than it has probably ever been, and in no need of protection.  The Endangered Species Act requires that a species be recovered before it becomes delisted and removed from federal protection.

So the big question is, how do you recover a species that was never in need of recovery to begin with?  Lynx were listed with little to no population data available, so we don’t have a level at which the population was ‘threatened’, and we don’t have a level at which we would consider the lynx to be ‘recovered’.  A species can only exist at densities relative to its habitat.  Beyond this, it becomes overpopulated and natural population control measures, such as starvation and increased predation, reduce it to healthier levels.  We have already seen this happen with lynx in Maine.  State research has identified starvation as the number one cause of lynx deaths, and also identified predation from other animals as a problem.

Now a person with common sense might ask the question, “Why are we letting the lynx population go through these boom and bust cycles and seeing lynx starve to death, doing everything we can to avoid taking them in a trap, when we could allow trappers to harvest a small surplus of these animals and produce a valuable fur resource?”

I honestly don’t know the answer to this question.  Ask the animal rights folks.  Ask those who supported the listing of the Canada lynx as a ‘threatened’ species in the first place.  It makes no biological sense, and if we ever want to see lynx ‘recovered’, we better start thinking about huge political action, because the way I see it, a species inappropriately listed can’t possibly be delisted based on actual science.

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