Harvesting Beaver Pelts Becoming Cost-Prohibitive

Harvesting Beaver Pelts Becoming Cost-Prohibitive

Tuesday, June 01, 2004 at 15:54

There are concerns that a staple of the Canadian fur industry is becoming too costly for trappers to produce.

North American Fur Auctions spokesman Dave Bewick says it was difficult to get good prices for beaver pelts this past season, mainly because of how much it costs to dress them.

Bewick says the situation became worse in the past year when two Canadian firms that handled the bulk of the work went under.

Bewick says beaver prices will likely remain low for at least another year, and will stay that way until the main buyers of the fur, the Chinese, are in a position to properly dress beaver pelts.

In the meantime, Bewick says many trappers will find it hard to justify going out to their trap lines.

Beaver pelts sold at an average of just over 25 dollars a pelt at NAFA’s recent fur sale.