The Cruel Fur Industry in 60 Seconds, by PETA
The fur industry is one of the cruelest to animals imaginable. The fur industry would like you to think otherwise, and they work very hard to deceive the public through media marketing, but the ugly truth is animals raised for their fur on fur farms endure lives of deep suffering and misery, then an agonizing death, including:
- fur animals are confined into packed, crowded small cages together
- fur animals experience horrible stress, fear, sickness, disease and constant physical and psychological discomfort
- fur animals do not receive any veterinary or medical care, when needed
- fur animals experience anxiety-induced psychosis from overcrowding and stress
- fur animals live with and endure physical injuries, including broken legs, limbs, bites, and wounds from stress and overcrowding
- fur animals are exposed to scorching heat and freezing temperatures and harsh weather conditions with no protection
- fur animals often are so stressed by their crowded conditions that they cannibalize each other
- fur animals are deprived of expressing any natural behaviors
- fur animals are killed in a number of brutal, agonizing ways in order to protect the pelt – including painful electrocution, being poisoned, having their necks broken, are gassed, or in the worst cases, are skinned alive
Fur farming and fur trapping for the clothing industry is entirely unregulated, so animals raised on fur farms or are trapped are completely unprotected and these businesses do not meet any type of humane standard or regulations from country governments.
About Fur Farming
The fur farming industry is mainly located in Europe, China, Russia, Argentina and the United States. Animals raised on fur farms include rabbit, fox, lynx, mink, chinchilla, and raccoon dog (mainly raised in China). Raccoon dogs raised on Chinese fur farms are sold under deceptive advertising and marketing labels identified as faux fur or labeled as another type of animal. China has also been found to raise cats as well for fur, and because cats and dogs are deceptively mislabeled for fur to retailers, domestic cats and dogs in China are often stolen from their owners or kidnapped from the streets and sold to the fur markets.
About Fur Trapping
Another method of the fur industry is trapping wild animals. Fur trapping kills millions of animals every year in painful steel-jaw traps, where the animals are left to languish and suffer for hours and days on end. These wild animals include coyotes, wolves, raccoons, bobcats, opossums, nutria, beavers, otters, and other fur-bearing animals. The traps used cause the animals to suffer lingering and often slow painful deaths. In addition, the bi-product of trapping is many other innocent animals are caught in the traps unintentionally including dogs, cats, and other wildlife, and even endangered species.
To keep the animal’s fur intact, trappers kill the animals very inhumanely often crushing them, beating them, or strangling them to death.
What You Can Do
- Do not patronize any retail store that sells fur, nor online.
- Refuse to buy any fur at all including fur-trimmed clothing.
- Let retail store owners know how you feel about animal fur, and ask them to stop selling fur and instead only sell faux fur (legitimate faux fur) Let them know you care about animals.
- Write letters to the editors of fashion magazines that feature fur in ads or on models, and explain how the industry is causing widespread suffering and pain for animals, and ask them not to feature animal fur in their magazines. Then stop purchasing the magazine.
- Know that some fur, is actually dogs and cats from China, and is fraudulently and deceptively labeled and marketed by the clothing manufacturer and retail store. Let the manufacturer and the retail store owner know that you are aware of this, it’s disturbing and concerning to you, and ask them to pull all fur, or you won’t patronize the business.
- If you think you have purchased or have seen apparel in a retail store that is falsely advertised and misrepresented, you can report it to the Humane Society of the United States here.
Here is a list of fur-free retail stores, manufactures and brands from the Humane Society of the United States.
Video Credit: Video produced by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
