FLIP OFF FUR! - Friends of Animals

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Friends of Animals (FoA) is a non-profit, international
animal advocacy organization, incorporated in the state
of New York since 1957. Friends of Animals advocates
for the rights of nonhuman animals, free-living and
domestic. Our goal is to free animals from cruelty and
institutionalized exploitation around the world.
The organization has evolved from its beginnings as
the most comprehensive low-cost spay neuter program
in the country. Friends of Animals now places critical
habitat, wildlife protection and veganism at the core of
animal advocacy.
Purchase our Ban Fur
stickers and pins at
Friendsofanimals.org
DONATION FORM
Enclosed is my donation to Friends of Animals’ Beyond Fur campaign.
$25
T
he fur trade destroys living, feeling individuals.
They number in the millions each year.
Frequently coveted by the industry is the fur of
coyotes and wolves, ermine, lynx, raccoons, seals, and
rabbits. Could we look into the eyes of these beings and
condemn them to death to take that fur for a coat or a
handbag trimming? (Sixty minks are skinned to make
one knee-length coat.) If not, should we pay others to
kill them?
Other mammals, like us, want to go about the
business of living. They were born in that fur; it belongs
to them, and so does their freedom. And there’s simply
no need, in the 21st century, to take their lives for it.
A more respectful world begins with each one of
us. Rejecting the violence behind every piece of fur is
a way we can support freedom for free-living animals
today. Their beautiful fur belongs to them, no one else.
Will you stand with Friends of Animals in our pledge to
respect them?
$50
$75
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Other $______________
$500
Make check payable to Friends of Animals
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All memberships include a subscription to
Action Line, Friends of Animals’ quarterly magazine.
777 Post Road | Darien, CT 06820
Tel: 203-656-1522 | Fax: 203-656-0267
Friendsofanimals.org
FLIP OFF
FUR!
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
I
n the 80s and 90s, designers were signing pledges to reject
fur. As celebrities jumped onto the anti-fur bandwagon,
fur became a fashion faux pas. So the fur industry got busy
renovating its image. And sadly designers and consumers have
fallen right into the fur industry’s trap. No pun intended.
According to a study unveiled in 2014, the global fur trade
has now been valued at more than $40 billion worldwide –
roughly the same as the global Wi-Fi industry. In Europe, there
are some 6,000 fur farms, and in North America there are
approximately 1,000 fur farms.
Increased global fur sales have been driven by growth in
Asian markets and increased designer use. By far the biggest
exporter of fur is Europe, and the biggest importer of fur is
China.
One silver lining in the dark cloud of the bloody fur industry
is over the past decade U.S. fur sales have declined—in 2003
sales totaled $1.80 billion, in 2013 sales totaled $1.39 billion.
And in February 2013, Vaute Couture made history as the first
all vegan label to show at New York Fashion Week. Later in
2013, the home of high fashion and glamour, West Hollywood,
banned the sale of fur apparel in retail stores, becoming the first
city in the United States to do so.
Unfortunately, for some vanity at its worse persists and it’s
stronger than their desire to evolve. Here in the United States,
more people buy fur in New York than any other city, followed
by Chicago.
Mink remains the most popular fur representing
approximately 70 percent of fur sold at retail. In 2013-14, 87.2
million mink pelts and 7.78 million fox pelts were produced
globally. Broadtail, the pelt of a premature or newborn Karakul
lamb having a flat and wavy appearance, fox and beaver, popular
for trims, are showing growth.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
The fur industry’s new design and cutting technologies have
changed the look and texture of fur, even making it appear fake.
Bright dyes have been applied. Bits and pieces of pelts — those
“scraps” that once were part of a breathing being — show up
on garments and accessories in new ways, as though fur were
a versatile fabric.
So people who would never wear a full-length fur coat might
not feel the same about a fur-trimmed jacket.
Opposition to using real fur also fueled the fake fur
trends—fabrics made of acrylic or other synthetic fibers, but
now designers are being persuaded to mix up fakes, real furs
and fabric, sometimes in the same apparel.
And that is the crux of the problem. The fur industry is
literally banking on consumers to buy dead animal skins or
anything that resembles them, so that fur in general stays
relevant, rather than unnecessary, indulgent and an affront to
non-human animals.
Wearing fake fur makes you a walking billboard for the fur
industry and buying any amount of real fur, no matter how
small, means sustaining an industry that farms or traps, kills
and processes animals who could have lived full, free lives.
Assured” label, indicating a product from a locale where
regulations or standards govern fur production. Thus, the
industry that skins animals claims to have their welfare at
heart. Don’t buy these morally meaningless assurances.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF FUR
Fur industry PR often tries to cast animal pelts in an
eco-friendly light. The facts:
•
Pelts from chinchillas and other mammals are treated
with petrochemicals to keep them from decomposing
as skin naturally does. These chemicals, like those
from leather tanneries, end up in the water supply.
Animals raised, warehoused and killed on resourcecostly fur farms require feed and a means of waste
disposal.
“Wild-caught” is no ecological bargain. A study by Ford
Motor Co. researcher Gregory Smith finds production
of fur from free-living animals requiring three times
the energy as the production of a synthetic coat.
Smith’s study accounts for fossil fuels used by vehicles
along the trap lines, and in the equipment used to tan
and process the pelts.
Of course trapping animals for their fur also decimates
endangered species and other free-living populations.
•
•
TRAPPING OR FARMING: IT’S ALL UNJUST
When caught in leg hold traps, wolves, beavers, coyotes,
raccoons, opossums and skunks will fight mightily to free
themselves. When animals caught in snares try to escape, the
wire cuts more deeply into limbs, necks or bodies. Friends
of Animals’ video footage of Alaska wolves caught in snares
appalled viewers who watched them on national news
broadcasts.
In some cases, animals will escape by chewing off one of
their feet—only to die later from shock and blood loss. And for
every animal caught, others who are not targeted die: hawks,
owls, deer, and domestic cats and dogs.
The majority of the world’s fur products, however, come
from captive animals. Raised on ranches or in factories, they’re
warehoused in cages, every natural instinct thwarted. Minks
suffer neck breaking, or are stuffed into boxes pumped full of
unfiltered engine exhaust, then skinned. Lynxes, coyotes, foxes
and chinchillas are often electrocuted.
DON’T BUY THEIR LABELS
Today’s fashion industry is big on sticking feel-good labels on
fur coats and products. These may persuade people that they
can be environmental or animal-welfare advocates by buying
the garment.
The International Fur Federation now has an “Origin
•
CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU
•
Support designers and retailers who have
renounced fur and don’t use fake fur, which
keeps real fur relevant, such as Vaute Couture
and Joshua Katcher.
•
Write to fashion designers and celebrities
who promote fur and ask them to stop. Send
letters to newspapers and magazines. Contact
print and television media in your area, and
urge them to report the reality behind fur.
•
Educate others. Request copies of this
Friends of Animals’ brochure and hand them
out, for example, where retailers sell fur.
Invest in Friends of Animals’ work and help
us get the word out, so the number of people
flipping off fur will once again grow.