Fast Facts about Fur:
More than 50 million animals are violently killed for use in fashion every year.
Methods used to kill animals for their fur include gassing, electrocution, and neck breaking. Fur-bearing animals are also caught and killed in barbaric body-gripping traps.
Neither fur nor fur trim is a by-product of the meat industry. Rabbit fur is often falsely identified as a byproduct of meat production. The truth is, few rabbit skins are obtained from slaughterhouses, which more often dispose of the undesirable pelts of rabbits bred to make meat. Fur comes from animals who are factory-farmed or trapped purely for fashion.
The fur trim market is an equal, if not greater, threat to animals than is the making of fur coats. Fur trim is not what’s “left over” from making full-length fur coats. Thousands of animals are killed simply to provide trimming effects for fashion. Even purchasing the tiniest bit of fur trim supports the cruel fur industry.
Garment or accessory labels cannot always be relied upon to accurately identify the type of animal fur used in an item. Born Free USA advises erring on the side of caution and compassion by not buying items that you cannot verify are fur-free.
Many European countries have banned or are in the process of phasing out some or all fur farming based largely on the understanding that it is impossible to raise furbearing animals in captive conditions that adequately ensure their welfare while maintaining financial viability.
Fur “farms” or “ranches” are not humane alternatives to trapping. The terms are euphemisms used by the fur industry to describe confinement facilities in which fur-bearing animals are caged and killed. Currently, there are no federal laws providing protection for the millions of animals held in these factory-like farms.
Seals are still being clubbed and brutally slain for their fur. The Canadian seal hunt is the world’s largest remaining commercial slaughter of marine mammal; close to a million harp seals were authorized to be killed between 2003 and 2005. The use of seal fur in fashion contributes to this massacre.
Although historically the fur trade played a role in the development of the early North American economy, tradition never justifies abuse. There are many cultural practices once seen as acceptable that are now viewed as horrific relics of a more brutal time.
The fur industry is a threat to our environment and wildlife, contributing to higher energy costs, pollution, land destruction, and reductions in populations of wild animals, including endangered and threatened species who may be accidentally trapped and killed.
Please sign and end this nightmare/animal cruelty once and for all. Thanks!
Credit: bornfreeusa.org
