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Fur
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Every year, 41 million animals are killed for their skins via trapping, gassing, neck breaking, and anal or genital electrocution. Fur farmers claim that they are strongly committed to providing humane care, but there is nothing humane about raising animals in small, cramped spaces where stress-related deaths, cannibalism, and self-mutilation are all too common. Fashion simply does not justify animal suffering and murder.
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Fur Trapping: Leg-hold, Body Grip, and Snares
Every year, approximately 10 million animals are trapped in the wild where they sometimes suffer for days and even weeks before dying. At least 5 million "non-target" animals including dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, opossums, and endangered species are killed each year by fur traps; many children are also hurt.
Leg-hold Traps
A leg-hold trap is comprised of two metal jaws powered by high strength springs that slam shut on the animal's paws when he steps upon it. With no food, water or protection from predators, at least one in every four animals chews off its own paw to escape, only to die later from blood loss, infection, predation, starvation, or a combination of the four. Leg-hold traps are not designed to kill an animal outright, but rather to have it languish until the trapper returns. He then clubs, strangles, or suffocates the animal to death. The steel jaw leg hold trap has been banned in 88 countries and 5 states because it is so cruel and because it often maims and kills "non-target" animals.
Body Grip Trap
The body grip trap, also referred to as the conibear, is made of two rectangular frames. When an animal walks between these two frames, they slam down and break the animal's back or neck. Although this is supposed to result in a "quick" kill, only about 15% of animals die quickly. The rest wait in pain, with broken necks or backs, until the trapper returns.
Snares
The snare is made of cable and shaped like a noose. When the animal enters, she is caught. The more she struggles, the tighter the noose becomes until it eventually strangles her.
Restraining Devices
Aquatic and semi-aquatic animals such as beaver and mink are held underwater by restraining devices while they die slow deaths.
Fur Farms
31 million animals suffer and die on fur farms each year, including 26 million mink, 4.5 million fox, 250,000 chinchillas, 150,000 sable, 100,000 fitch, and 100,000 raccoon dogs.
Dog and Cat Fur
Millions of dogs and cats in China are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets. This fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to the United States to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores.
Life
Fur farming is no more humane than trapping. Ranched animals are inbred and suffer birth defects such as deformed sex organs, internal bleeding, and neck spasms. They are fed an unnatural diet which causes them to acquire digestive disorders. The animals are severely confined in wire cages no larger than a file drawer; the bottoms of the cages cut into their feet. They develop nervous disorders and crippled limbs from being kept in such cramped conditions. They are unable to engage in their natural behavior and, as a result, resort to nervous pacing, tail biting, and other stereotypic behaviors.
Death
Ranched animals are poisoned, gassed, electrocuted, clubbed, or have their necks broken. Foxes' tongues are cut out, and they are left to bleed to death. Farmers sometimes kill smaller ranched animals by channeling exhaust fumes from a running motor into their enclosures; not all of the animals die immediately, and those that are not asphyxiated are skinned alive. Persian lambs are also skinned alive at 5 weeks of age to preserve their coats. Pregnant karakul sheep are beaten with rods to force premature births; the fetuses are then skinned alive. There are currently no laws in existence to protect animals on fur farms from even the worst abuse.
The Number of Animals Used to Make ONE Average Length Fur Coat
125 Ermine
100 Chinchillas
70 Sables
50 Minks (female)
30 Minks (male)
30 Canadian Fishers
30 Muskrats
30 Opossums
30 Rabbits
27 Raccoons
17 Badgers
14 Otters
11 Silver Fox
11 Lynx
9 Beaver
Myths vs. Facts
Myth: Trapping is needed to control the spread of disease among wildlife
Fact: The Center for Disease Control has stated that trapping does not prevent disease and might actually contribute to it. Diseased animals seek isolation and are thus not attracted to the trapper's lures. A healthy animal is therefore more likely to be caught, which, in turn greatly reduces the genetic strength of that animal's population, making it more susceptible to disease. Furthermore, trapping thins the population, causing animals to travel great distances to find mates. If a traveling animal is carrying a disease, he may infect other animals during his journey. Finally, when a large number of animals are removed from a certain area, the species responds with an increased rate of birth. This means that more offspring that have not developed immunity to various illnesses are born, making the population as a whole less resistant to disease.
Myth: We must use traps to keep coyotes from eating livestock
Fact: No lethal means of coyote control has proven effective. Coyotes have a very high reproductive rate and respond to killing programs by bearing more young, more frequently.
Myth: Fur production is environmentally sound.
Fact: Fur farms, like all factory farm operations, produce massive amounts of animal waste that are high in both phosphorous and nitrogen. When it rains, this waste becomes a part of our water systems. Caustic chemicals such as formaldehyde are used in the processing of fur coats, thus eliminating the biodegradable value of an animal skin. Only "dressed" pelts are put on the market, for no one wants a coat that would rot in her closet. Further, a ranch-raised coat requires nearly 50 times more energy than its synthetic counterpart.
Make Compassion the Fashion
Animals are intelligent, sentient beings. Like us, they have the capacity to feel and experience pain. With many less expensive and more durable alternatives freely available, we do not need to cause them pain by supporting the fur trade. There is no excuse for making animals suffer unnecessarily to satisfy our own vanity. There is no excuse for buying fur.
Ask Stores to Stop Selling Fur
Macy's East Executive Office
James Gray, President
P.O. Box 8220
Mason, OH 45040
Tel.: 1-800-264-0069
Fax: 513-573-2957
Email form: http://www.fds.com/contact/macys/service.asp
Neiman Marcus
Karen Katz, President
Burton Tansky, CEO
1618 Main St.
Dallas, TX 75201-4748
Phone: 1-800-937-9146 (ask for the executive office)
Email: offices@neimanmarcus.com
and ecare@ecare.neimanmarcus.com
Fax: 214-742-4904
Sak's Fifth Avenue
Philip B. Miller, Chairman
Christina Johnson, President and CEO
Corporate Headquarters
750 Lakeshore Pkwy
Birmingham, AL 35211
(205) 940-4000
(877) 551-SAKS
Fax: (800) 221-3297
You Can Help
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Refuse to buy items containing fur or fur trim.
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Write letters to stores, manufacturers, and advertisers explaining the suffering that goes into each fur coat.
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Write letters to fashion editors asking them not to promote fur in their articles and advertising.
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Thank and support stores that do not sell fur or fur-trimmed garments.
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Support anti-trapping legislation and anti-cruelty laws.
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Educate your community by tabling, distributing literature, or arranging an anti-fur demonstration.
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Teach others to respect all living things.
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