Maine Looking For New Ways To Manage Declining Fur Trade

PORTLAND, Maine — Trapping wild animals for fur is a way of life that goes back thousands of years in Maine, and the state is considering new ways to manage the declining business. Maine trappers harvest mammals such as foxes, beavers and muskrats for their fur. The trapping trade has slowed in recent years as a result of depressed international prices and an aging workforce. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is gathering feedback from trappers and others across the state as part of an effort to examine and possibly change the way it manages the animals.