Sobolivery of Russia: history, status and perspectives of its development

Sable is a valuable fur-bearing animal, which is a national symbol of Russia and is of great historical, social and economic importance. Sable skins have unique operational and aesthetic properties. As a result of uncontrolled extraction by the beginning of XX century he became an endangered species. As a result, the government had to take urgent measures to protect sable furs, control and ban fishing, as well as to restore its numbers. One of these measures was the cage breeding of sables. Russia was the first and only country where the industrial technology for production of sable skins was developed and successfully implemented. Currently there is a tendency to increase interest in trade sable furs as compared with caged sable furs. According to specialists from fur farms and auction houses, the reason is the quality of cell-bred sable fur acquired in the process of domestication - the hair has become thicker and coarser, less silky, with low variability of color and tone. It is possible to expand the range of sable breeding products by involving wild populations in sable cage breeding. As a result of industrial cross-breeding of cage-bred sables with individuals of wild populations, purposeful selection of young animals according to desirable traits is possible to obtain pelts corresponding to modern market requirements.