Film Brings Island Fox Industry to Life

Just before World War One broke out, PEI could boast one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. The reason can be summed up in two words—“silver foxes.”

To help bring that history alive, Wyatt Heritage Properties in Summerside has developed a 46 minute film entitled Those Little Silver Mines currently available for viewing at the International Fox Museum and Hall of Fame.

“It is a fascinating human interest story,” said Marlene Campbell, culture program assistant with Wyatt Heritage Properties.

The story actually begins in 1883 when Sir Charles Dalton and Robert Oulton began breeding foxes they captured in the wild near Alberton. They were able to keep the market to themselves until the turn of the 20th century.

They sold another pair of foxes to Robert Tuplin and Captain James Gordon and another pair to the father and son team of Silas and B.I. Raynor. This group became known as the “Big Six” and pledged to keep their breeding practices secret and not to sell any live foxes.

That is where the film picks up the story. The hero is Frank Tuplin—a Margate farmer and nephew of Robert Tuplin. He begged his uncle to sell him a pair of foxes and his uncle eventually gave in. The sale price was set at $1,000—big money in 1905.

His budding venture didn’t go well because his foxes got rickets. Eventually, the younger Tuplin came to the conclusion the money was in selling breeding stock rather than pelts.

That set off what Campbell called a “gold rush” in PEI, especially in the Summerside area. By the 1920’s the silver fox industry was worth millions and Campbell said it helped many Islanders survive the full impact of the Great Depression. The industry finally bottomed out after World War Two when prices plummeted.

“People who have seen the film really like it,” she said. “We are now in the process of revamping our website and we hope to eventually upload it and increase the potential audience.”

Fur Industry Major Link in Supply Chain

At first glance, the red meat and fish processing sectors may appear to have little in common with the mink industry.

A closer look reveals a supply chain that is paying dividends every day for the nation’s environment. Mink could perhaps be called the ultimate recyclers, favouring a diet of waste from livestock and fish processing plants. The Fur Council of Canada estimates the 5.5 million mink raised on North American farms consume more than 500 million pounds of food waste annually. There is nothing wasted when the mink is sent to market—the fat is turned into mink oil that is used in skin care products and lubricants.

“It makes a major contribution to the environment,” said Isaac Thompson, member of the P.E.I. Fur Breeders Association.

The group represents the 30+ mink and fox breeders in the province. The group traces its history back to the 1920’s when P.E.I. was a major player in the world silver fox industry. While the numbers are now relatively small, Thompson said they have been growing over the past decade.

“A decade ago, we had about five or six mink breeders and now there are over a dozen,” he said. “Many of them are smaller scale but like in many other sectors of farming, the bigger players have gotten bigger.”

The fur industry has also been quick to embrace technology. The pelting equipment on his farm is more automated and computerized and the animals are euthanized painlessly using the most humane method, in a carbon monoxide chamber.

Like other sectors of agriculture, Thompson said the fur industry is not without its challenges. Aleutian Disease is a major threat to mink producers. The disease attacks the animal’s immune system impacting
both quality and production.

“The best way to try to keep it under control is rigorous cleaning, disinfection, and blood test breeding stock to identify positive animals”, he said.

He said black mink tend to be hit harder by the disease than other common colors such as brown mink. The black variety dominates Atlantic Canada production making the disease a constant concern for many farmers.

Like most other agricultural markets, the U.S. dollar is the standard when it comes to international transactions. That means the higher the Loonie begins to climb, Canadian products become less attractive especially to American consumers. On a more positive note, he said China is becoming an increasingly important market, as the world’s most populated country is enjoying tremendous growth and many Chinese find themselves with more disposable income.

Cutbacks in processing capacity in the livestock and fishing industries has made the feed needed for the mink diet harder and more expensive to obtain. He noted “ten years ago, herring was plentiful and cheap and now it’s harder to get and much more expensive.”

Thompson said the fur industry was one of the first sectors of agriculture to implement a code of practice back in the early 1980’s. He explained efforts are now under way to update the Code of Practices to ensure the mink industry in Canada remains a leader in animal welfare and product that reaches the consumer continues to be top quality.