How to Enjoy Furs without Killing Animals

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To begin skinning, make the cuts shown in the drawing, lift up the edge of the hide, and proceed to cut through the membrane that holds the skin to the flesh. The technique is self-explanatory once you get into it. Just don't try to hurry . . . the idea is to loosen the pelt from the carcass gradually, without tearing the hide or poking a blade through it.

A pelt taken for commercial use these days is generally just a rectangular "fillet" cut from the back, where the fur thickest. Nevertheless, it's possible to skin out the head, tail and even paws of an animal (although a bit of patience required to loosen the hide from these more detailed parts of the body).

Once the pelt is off, salt it down to preserve it until you have several to tan all at once. This means laying the skin out flat, flesh side up, and rubbing it thoroughly with ordinary table salt . . . enough so that some is left loose on the surface to absorb moisture. Pelts so treated will keep just about indefinitely. Store them flat, fur side down, until they're completely dry. Then they may be turned over or stacked.

The final step is to tan the hide (a process that both retains the fur and leaves the underlying skin soft and flexible). Some research in the library will probably turn up some good home tanning methods . . . but we've had quite satisfactory result with a kit available for $5.00 from the U-Tan Company, 28 Paris St., Newark, N.J. 07105. The materials included will treat five raccoon skins or an eqivalent number of other hides.

How you use the finished pelts is up to you and your imagination. We're saving ours to make a big fur "quilt". It 's a shame that so many creatures die as a result of man's careless high-speed scramble across their territory . . . but it's kind of nice that their lovely fur, at least, can be preserved, used, and appreciated.

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