Is it morally OK to wear fur?

No

1 of 50

by Heather Moore

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The tag won't say "tabby cat," "Labrador retriever" or "German shepherd," but some of the fur coats and fur-trimmed gloves, hats and boots sold in popular retail stores in the United States may be made from dogs and cats who were killed in China in some of the most grisly ways imaginable. An investigation into the dog and cat fur trade has roused even the most complacent of consumers to join the fight against fur and given animal rights activists even more ammunition against an already immoral industry.

Chinese Animal Torture
In the summer of 2005, investigators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) traveled to an animal market in Guangzhou in Southern China and found dogs and cats packed inside tiny wire-mesh cages, visibly exhausted. Many had been on the road for days with no food or water. Some were so lethargic that they could barely move. Others were aggressive and fought constantly, having been driven insane from confinement and exposure. They were covered in gaping wounds. Many animals slowly perished in their cages; other dead bodies were piled on top of the cages. Some of the animals still wore collars, a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions.

As many as 8,000 dogs and cats were loaded onto each truck in crowded cages stacked on top of one another. One by one, the cages were tossed from the top of the truck to the ground 10 feet below, often shattering the legs of the animals inside. The animals were lifted out with long metal tongs and thrown over a 7-foot fence to be killed and skinned. They were bludgeoned, hanged, boiled, bled to death or strangled with wire nooses. Many were still alive while their skin was being peeled away.

The fur stripped from the bodies of these suffering animals is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from another species and exported to other countries to be sold in retail stores. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States.

A spokesperson for the Chinese ambassador in London told the BBC News, "Though cats and dogs are not endangered, we do not encourage the ill treatment of cats and dogs. But, anyway, the fur trade mostly feeds markets in the U.S. and Europe. Most of this fur is not for the Chinese market. So the Americans and Europeans should accept the blame. We have no plans to clamp down on this internally that I am aware ofit is for the U.S. and Europeans to take their own action. They should boycott fur as a fashion material."

Shed Your Skins
That's good advice indeed. Fur from China may come from dogs and cats, or it may come from minks, foxes, rabbits, raccoon dogs and other animals who also feel pain. Care for the Wild International, Swiss Animal Protection, and EAST International conducted a year-long investigation into Chinese fur farms and concluded, "Conditions on Chinese fur farms make a mockery of the most elementary animal welfare standards."

Because there are no regulations governing fur farms in China, farmers can house and slaughter animals in any way that they see fit. Fur-farmed animals pace, pant, or shiver in outdoor wire cages, depending on the weather. They are exposed to driving rain, scorching sun, and freezing temperatures. Many languish with broken bones and other severe injuries. Those suffering from anxiety-induced psychosis chew on their own limbs and throw themselves repeatedly against the cage bars.

Before they are skinned alive, animals are pulled from their cages and thrown to the ground; workers bludgeon them with metal rods or slam them on hard surfaces, causing broken bones and convulsions but not always immediate death. Many remain conscious while they are skinned and struggle to defend themselves to the very end.

When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile. Some of the animals' hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on a heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.

Cruelty Knows No Bounds
Of course, China is hardly the only country to abuse animals for their fur. Americans do despicable things to foxes, minks, beavers, bobcats, chinchillas, otters, coyotes, rabbits, raccoons and other animals commonly killed for fur. No federal humane slaughter law protects animals on U.S. fur factory farms, and killing methods are quite gruesome. Small animals may be crammed into boxes and poisoned with hot, unfiltered engine exhaust from a truck. Engine exhaust is not always lethal, so animals sometimes wake up while being skinned. Larger animals have clamps or a rod applied to their mouths and rods inserted into their anuses, and they are painfully electrocuted. Other animals are poisoned with strychnine, which suffocates them by paralyzing their muscles in painful rigid cramps. Gassing, decompression chambers and neck-breaking are other common fur-farm slaughter methods.

Millions more animals are painfully trapped with steel-jaw traps every year. If the animals don't freeze or die of thirst first, they languish in the traps for hours or days until the trapper returns and beats, stomps, strangles, or suffocates them to death. Some trapped animals escape by chewing off their own feet; they later die from blood loss, fever, gangrene, or predation.

Fur-Free Fashion Chains
If you're opposed to such cruelty, do something about it. Consumer boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, and protests have a real impact on fashion retailers. Last winter, after a highly publicized, 11-week-long campaign led by PETA, one of the most popular youth retailers, J.Crew, announced that it would stop selling fur and fur-trimmed garments. Many other popular clothing chains, including H&M, Gap Inc., Zara, Forever 21, Gadzooks 21, and abc distributing, LLC, a large online company based in Miami, Florida, have adopted fur-free policies. Forever 21 announced its fur-free policy less than two weeks after PETA called for a nationwide boycott of the trend-setting chain. The company even donated 20 boxes of unsold fur shawls, wraps and scarves to PETA, which worked with relief organization Life USA to send the furs to needy people in war-torn Afghanistan and earthquake-ravaged Pakistan.

Toronto fashion retailer Suzy Shier contacted PETA and pledged never to sell fur again after activists demanded that the store stop selling fur. Topshop, a highly respected chain in the United Kingdom, displayed PETA's "All Our Fur Is Fake" decal in the windows of its 280 stores in 2004 after British activists threatened to boycott the company for selling real fur.

More information on PETA's anti-fur campaign and a free list of companies and designers offering cruelty-free clothing can be found at www.FurIsDead.org.

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