What is Wrong With Fur

8/9/2019 What is Wrong With Fur

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consumerfor a fur free socie


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Beyond the Myths and Propaganda: Facing the Facts

It is time to identiy responsibility within the ur trade. Consumers need to recognize those

retailers who have made the compassionate decision to orego selling ur.

Still, it remains a retailers responsibility to examine their role in the intricate relationship among those

who kill the animals, those who design garments and accessories made o ur or ur trim, and the

system that makes it available to consumers. A retailer must decide how to participate.

Consumers or a Fur Free Society (CFFS) oers itsel as a resource to retailers so they can better

understand the controversy surrounding the use o animal ur or ashion. CFFS provides inormed and

reliable responses to what have become common propaganda ploys by the ur industry to desensitizepeople to a key act: When we accept the notion that ur is merely a abric, we contribute to real lie

animal suering and death. Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute (API) asks that you

consider these messages, and take a hard look at the role o a retailer in the ur trade.

The ur industrys goal is to sell ur. Clearly, the ur industry has an incentive to sell its product ur.

The marketing eorts by the ur industry present an emphasis on pitching the concept that ur is

merely a abric. To support this notion, it is necessary that they disassociate the abric rom the actual

animal that died to provide the ur.


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Fact:Fur in all shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns is still an animals coat.Common Myth: Furs new styles will make consumers re-think ur in a totally dierent way.

Because it is just a small bit o uy pink trim on a jacket cu or scar tassel, does not mean it is not

the same grisly product o animal suering and death. Fashion designers who choose to use ur rely

on novel ways to incorporate ur into their clothing lines and designs. Fur is now being dyed in bright

colors or to mimic exotic animal patterns, braided or beaded to give it a unique texture or exotic look,

or shorn down to imitate the eel o velvet abric. However, the reality remains; the novel ur is still the

result o animal suering and death.

Please consider the reality that fur is not simply a fabric.


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Fact:Neither ur nor ur trim are by-products o the meat industry.

Common Myth: Fur is a by-product and trim is letovers.

Fur is actory armed and/or trapped purely or ashion. Some meat is utilized rom select ur-bearing

animals, most notably rabbit. However, the reality remains that ew rabbit skins are obtained rom

slaughterhouses, which more oten dispose o the undesirable pelts o meat-bred rabbits. Intensive

meat production techniques are typically incompatible with the production o quality rabbit ur. In

addition, rabbits used or meat are typically slaughtered at an age and time o year when their coats

are not ully developed (at 10 to 12 weeks) and are unsuitable or ur ashion.

Fur trim is not the letovers rom making ull-length ur coats. Animals are killed simply to provide

trimming eects or ashion.

CourtesyofMontgomeryCo

untyHumaneSociety

CourtesyofAnimalAid


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Fact:Compassionate, caring people concerned about the environment choosenot to wear ur.

Common Myth: Fur ashion is orever.

As more markets embrace the ideologies surrounding ethical consumerism, the tides are shiting aswe observe the natural product industry seeing all-time highs, and products such as hybrid cars, ree-

trade coee, sweatshop-ree clothing, cruelty-ree cosmetics, and ree-range and organic oods all

experiencing measurable success.

Examples such as ur-arming bans across Europe, wide media coverage o undercover investigations

revealing the gruesome ur markets o China, recent United States bans on domestic dog and cat ur

as well as seal ur, suggest the curtain is beginning to lit, exposing some disheartening truths about

ur production and animal suering, and the roles o those in this market.

CourtesyofInternational

FundforAnimalWelfare


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Fact:Compassion is always in good taste; ashion is fckle.

Common Myth: Fur is always in style

Fur is controversial, and evokes sadness and anger in many who are exposed to ashion items

containing ur or ur trim. Responsibility alls on those who involve themselves in the trade o ur to

examine their decision to promote a style or ashion trend that involves millions o animals suering

and dying to supply ads in ashion.

Fur is beautiul. However, it is beautiul when seen on the sleek bodies o mink, otter, ox, coyote, and

the other animals to whom these coats rightully belong. The ur becomes unattractive with the deaths

o those animals, as well as the processing to remove ats and oils, blood, mucus, and other bodily

uids, and the chemical treatments to retard the decay that naturally ollows death.


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Fact:Synthetic abrics and aux ur are the answer to cold climate protection.

Common Myth: The warmth o ur makes it a necessity in cold climates.

Synthetic abrics provide exceptional protection rom extreme weather; animal ur is not the onlyprotection rom winters chill.

Fur garments are more oten designed or ashion, not warmth. So much ur is sold in the orm o trim

that the number o animals killed or ur trim is expected to overtake the number o animals killed or

ull-ur garments. Fur trim contributes very little to warmth.

To maximize urs ability to warm, ur would be worn on the inside o the garment, as warmth generated

by the body is trapped next to the skin or underclothing, and then trapped by the outer skin o the

ur-bearing animal. Wearing a garment ur-side-out allows heat to escape rom the ur.


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Fact:Synthetics, cottons, and other plant-based products last as long as, orlonger than, ur.

Common Myth: Fur is a naturally durable and long-lasting fber.

Animal skin, once removed, will rot, unless it is dried and treated with toxic chemicals. Even then, it

must be kept cool, must be guarded, as organic tissue, against insects, and o course it still will wear i

rubbed against objects. Eventually all the care in the world wont prevent it rom delayed deterioration.

Synthetic ur has been proven in tests to be warmer than real ur, lasting longer, and resisting wear

better. Even wool and eathers, not being attached to skin, last longer.


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Fact:The ur industry is a threat to our environment, specifcally to Northern

American animal species (such as eagles, lynx, bobcat, red wol).

Common Myth: Fur is a natural product and environmentally riendly.

It takes nearly three times more energy to produce a ur coat rom trapped animals than to produce

a synthetic ur, according to a study by Gregory H. Smith, a transportation research engineer at the

University o Michigan.

Environmentally harmul products including chromium and ormaldehyde are used in the processing

o real ur garments to keep them rom rotting. In 1991, six New Jersey ur processors were fned

more than $2 million or releasing toxic waste into the environment. Far rom being natural, renewal

resources, real ur products consume more o our precious and irreplaceable energy resources thando those made rom synthetic materials.

Fur arming has also threatened Northern Americas wildlie by introducing non-native species,

resulting in the systemic environmental eects o land destruction, animal population reductions, and

genetic swapping, to name but a ew.

Trapping oers a host o unique environmental costs such as reducing several ur-bearing species in

North America. Additionally, traplines are notoriously indiscriminate other non-target animals (such

as bald eagles or lynx pictured above) oten become captured in traps.

Cou

rtesyofMarkMartel/TheRaptureCenter


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Fact:Historically, the ur trade played a role in the development o the early NorthAmerican economy. Tradition never justifes abuse.

Common Myth: The ur trade is a proud North American tradition.

The ur trade was once a part o North American economy, spurred by the European market and

Native American trading with European trappers and traders. Many heritages once acceptable are now

seen as reminders o more brutal eras. Tradition never justifes abuse, and the real question always

comes back to the abuse animals endure as a result o the ur trade.

H.Mieth

/LifeMagazine1941-1943TimeInc.


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Fact:Trapping does not sustain human populations.

Common Myth: Fur purchases support thousands o people living on the land.

Modern-day trapping cannot complete with alternate means or ur production. Nothing has hurt theaboriginal trapper, or the rural trapper, in areas where reasonably paying jobs are ew and ar between,

more than the ur industry itsel. Such trappers cannot compete with ur arms. Fur armers produce

a steady supply, geared to demand, o urs o careully bred animals, all o the same size, color, and

ur density. This is important to the ur industry, which seeks uniormity. Farms regulate production in

accordance with market demands.

State wildlie agencies report that income rom trapping is either extremely low or non-existent; in act,

when time, equipment, and transportation are calculated into the cost, most trappers actually lose

money.

CourtesyofCAFTUK

CourtesyofCAFTUK


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Fact:Fur arms are not humane alternatives to trapping, but euphemisms

used by the ur industry to describe the confnement acilities or cagedur-bearing animals.

Common Myth: Fur arm conditions have resulted in domestic animals very well suited to the arm

environment.

Over thirty million animals worldwide are raised in cages and killed each year or their ur. Confnement

o naturally wild animals causes numerous physical and behavior abnormalities. These caged animals

are eventually killed by inhumane methods such as gassing, neck breaking, anal electrocution, or

injection with poisons.


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Fact:Currently, no ederal laws provide protection or the millions o animalsin ur arms.

Common Myth: Fur arming is a highly regulated industry.

The ur arm industry is completely sel-regulated.

Courtesy of PeTA


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Courte

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ofHSU S

/Gle nwood

Ja ckson

Fact:Fur rom endangered or protected species still makes it to the market andbans are difcult to enorce. Domestic dog and cat ur bans in the UnitedStates are as recent as 2000 and label loopholes make enorcement tricky.

Common Myth: Furs used in the trade are abundant. Government controls ensure NO endangered

species are ever used.

Furs made rom endangered species exist in this market. There are laws against it, but enorcement is

extremely difcult, oten absent.

Fur garments priced under $150 are not subject to current ur-labeling laws, so the source o the

animal ur used in these garments may not be listed. Many consumers thereore assume that any ur

trim is aux because there is no indication o an animal source. (One horrifc example o the dangers

o this loophole is the import o domestic dog and cat ur making its way into the U.S. market, and

assumed to be, respectively, coyote and rabbit ur.)

In 2007 media stories o dog ur discovered as being part o designer clothing lines, and real ur being

sold as aux by retailers, made headlines.

CourtesyofHSUS/Karremann/Despojo


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Fact:When you commit to a ur-ree policy and display the Fur Free Fox logo, yousend a message to millions o conscientious consumers that you care about

animal suering and that you do not support it.

The Consumers or a Fur Free Society program makes simple the task o communicating your

companys ethical business choices to consumers who desire style and quality with compassion.

CFFS is dedicated to helping retailers and consumers make choices or a more humane world.

The Consumers or a Fur Free Society has the backing o the Fur Free Alliance, a coalition o 35

leading animal and environmental protection organizations worldwide, representing more than 10

million members and supporters in the United States alone.

Take advantage o this innovative program by becoming one o the leading retailers to join the CFFS

program today.

CONTACT INFO: Monica Engebretson, Project Director

Consumers or a Fur Free Society

head ofce:

Born Free USA united with API

1122 S Street, Sacramento, CA 95811

(916) 447-3085 x210

[email protected]


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What is Wrong With Fur