1 of 51

No

Write now Article Tools

Wearing fur is not morally OK because of the extreme cruelty to animals and the degradation of our environment caused by the fur industry. There are two ways to obtain fur from animals: through trapping and through fur farms or ranches. Both methods are ethically and ecologically abhorrent.

Trappers kill almost 5 million fur-bearing animals every year in the United States. Additionally, some 3.5 million animals are raised on American fur farms. Globally, 50 million animals-and this figure includes dogs, cats and ferrets-are slaughtered every single year just because they have beautiful fur that humans want to wear on their backs.

What's morally wrong with fur farms? For starters, normally wide-ranging furbearing animals are squeezed together into filthy, tiny cages. The stress caused by this overcrowding causes obsessive behaviors like pacing and turning in circles, self-mutilation and cannibalizing of cage mates. Fur-farmed animals live very short lives compared to their wild counterparts: approximately 5 months for minks and 9 months for foxes. Their miserable existences are ended by gassing, anal electrocution, poisoning, neck snapping or skinning alive (all these methods are designed not to damage their fur, which is highly profitable to the fur farmer).

What's morally bad about trapping? Steel-jaw leg hold traps, which are extremely cruel devices, are still allowed in many states. Trapped animals often remain alive, injured and suffering, for days until the trappers get around to checking their traps. Many try to escape by chewing off their own extremities. They also die from blood loss, infection or predation by other animals. Beavers can take up to 20 minutes to drown when caught in underwater traps. Another morally questionable characteristic of fur trappers is that they seem to enjoy beating, stomping, and strangling trapped animals to death. And that's not all. Trappers also kill millions of untargeted animals like dogs, cats, owls, blue jays, chipmunks, golden eagles, swans, and threatened and endangered species who accidentally get caught in their traps.

From an environmental standpoint, making a fur coat from trapped animal pelts uses three times as much energy as making a fake fur coat. A coat made from fur-farmed animal pelts uses a whopping 60 times as much energy as a fake fur coat. It has been estimated that a single fur coat requires the deaths of 60 wild minks, 42 red foxes, 8 seals, 16 coyotes, 15 beavers, 20 otters, 40 raccoons, 18 lynx,

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Is it morally OK to wear fur??
We want to hear your view. Write now!