of whom are constantly on duty about the ranch to protect their charges from alarm and from thieves. The Legislature of 1913 enacted a bill providing that "every one who, without the consent of the owner or caretaker of a ranch or enclosure where foxes or other fur-bearing animals are in captivity for breeding purposes, shall enter the grounds occupied by these animals or go within twenty-five yards of the outer fence or enclosure within which they are kept, shall be deemed guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not to exceed $1000 nor less than $500."
The domesticated and even the wild fox is not malicious by nature, but is inordinately timid—sometimes disastrously so in the case of vixens which destroy their new-born whelps in attempting to hide them from prying eyes. For three weeks or more after the arrival of the litter the utmost caution is necessary to avoid the loss of the five or six thousand dollar babies. This valuation does not refer to the pelt's worth but to the estimated (sometimes grossly over-estimated) rating of the offspring as reproducers of their species. A female which lives the maximum period of eleven to fifteen years may give birth to from twenty to forty pups during her life-time. So long as there is demand for breeding pairs no foxes will be killed for their skins unless they become old or injured. It is believed that several more
