FURS: Trouble in Mink

As he does every year about this time, bronzed, husky Herbert A. Nieman was grading pelts on his silver fox farm near Hermansville, Mich. But this year pelting was different. Nieman, the biggest U.S. breeder of silver foxes, was almost ready to pelt out of the fox-breeding business for the next few years. Last spring he killed off 15,000 pups; this-season his kill (by electrocution) will be 30,000 more foxes. He will keep a small breeding stock of only 1,250 pairs for next year.

The reason for this year's big kill was a spectacular drop in the price of fox furs....

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