THE FUR TRADE IN CHILE - AN OVERVIEW OF 75 YEARS OF EXPORT DATA (1910-1984)
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Date
1986
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Abstract
Seventy-five years (1910-1984) of quantitative information on pelt exports from Chile were examimed, analysing trends in numbers and values exported, as well as historical shifts in taxonomic composition of the exports, and in countries of destination. Two cases were scrutinised more closely in which the fur trade appeared to have forced furbearers to the verge of extinction: chinchillas (for which export data were available starting in 1828) and sea lions (for which capture quotas were established starting in 1972). A comparison of exports of the same furbearer types (vizcachas, guanacos, skunks, wild cats, foxes, and coypus) between Chile and neighbouring Argentina suggests that in the latter country the conservation status of those furbearers is in danger.