The true color of fur: Fur is Red!

Behind every fur item, there is a barbaric story that amounts to piles of bloodied, slaughtered and skinned innocent animals discarded as trash. The basic and tragic simple truth that the fur trade works hard to hide.

 

Fur is not only unspeakably cruel and a fashion "faux pas" that makes you look ignorant and cold hearted, it is a disaster for the environment.

Myths and facts about the fur industry

The fur industry wants you to believe that fur is an environmentally friendly product. According to this industry, fur is natural, renewable, sustainable, energy efficient, recyclable, organic and biodegradable. If all that sounds too good to be true, there’s a good reason: it is too good to be true. In fact, fur is as far from environmentally friendly as many toxic industrial products. Let’s review the fur industry’s claims:

Myth: fur is environmentally friendly.

The improper handling of waste by the fur industry regularly causes significant water contamination. Nitrates, phosphates and other environmentally dangerous chemicals run off with rain water or seep into aquifers and pollute water supplies. But water isn’t the only natural resource threatened by the fur industry. The earth itself is also under attack.

In march 2011, following a complaint filed by animal rights organisation GAIA (1), the Jury d’Ethique Publicitaire (JEP), Belgium’s advertising standards authority, asked a fur breeder association to modify its advertisement, or failing that, to cease using it altogether, since in reality fur has a negative impact on the environment.
(1) http://www.gaia.be/en/control.php?e...

Myth: the main substances used to process fur pelts are natural ingredients.

Among the substances used to condition fur are harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and other bleaching agents. In addition, acids are used to activate the tanning process. Harsh chemical dyes are also used. Many of these toxic substances wind up in our environment.

Myth: the processing and dyeing of fur is carefully regulated to protect the environment.

Many countries where fur is produced, like China, either do not have effective laws to protect the environment from harsh chemicals or just don’t enforce them.

Myth: fur is a natural, renewable and sustainable resource. According to the industry, it does not deplete endangered wildlife populations or damage the natural habitats that sustain them.

Trapping significant numbers of any species alters the balance of nature and causes unnatural increases and decreases in the populations of other animal species that normally live in balance with fur bearing animals. Since fur traps are nonspecific and will trap and maim or kill any animal unlucky enough to walk into them, many non-targeted animals, including endangered species (2) and animal companions such as dogs and cats, are caught and killed in fur traps every year.
(2) Animal Issues, Animal Protection Institute, Winter 2007

Myth: real fur is biodegradable.

The formaldehyde, dyes and acids used to process fur are environmental poisons. But the industry’s fraud does not stop there. It can also affect your health. Indeed, fur can also be dangerous.

A detailed study commissioned by Four Paws International (3) shows harmful substance contamination in fur products purchased in september 2010, in Germany. 43% of the items were assessed as highly contaminated, potentially damaging to health and not recommended. 50% of the items were assessed as substantially contaminated and not recommended. 7% only were assessed as moderately contaminated. The “Poison Report” shows that the sample in the test with the highest contamination of chemicals damaging to health was a child’s jacket with toxic fur trimming.
(3) “Poison in fur” http://www.vier-pfoten.org/website/... - “Brief profile of discovered subtances” http://www.vier-pfoten.org/website/...

Myth: fur production is energy efficient.

Fur production requires transporting animals and their food; removing animals’ waste; providing electricity for housing animals and the slaughter process; the use of pesticides, vaccines, and antibiotics; transporting carcasses; transporting pelts to auction; transporting them to a fur tannery (which involves sorting, soaking, fleshing, tanning, wringing, drying, cleaning, trimming, buffing, and finishing); and transporting tanned pelts to garment makers, wholesalers and retailers. When all these processes are taken into account, a fur garment takes far more energy to produce than a faux-fur or natural cloth garment.

 

And let’s not forget: There’s nothing natural and beautiful about cruelty.

Animals caught in traps are left for days or longer in extraordinary pain and sometimes chew off their own paws to try to escape their agony. Those animals can include dogs and cats trapped by accident.

Animals raised on fur farms are housed in unbearably small cages and suffer their entire lives from fear, stress, disease, parasites and other physical and psychological hardships. When the industry is finally ready to take their fur, the animals are often killed by electrocution, gassing, poisoning or other methods that will preserve the quality of the pelts regardless of the pain and suffering inflicted on the animals. Some animals are even skinned alive!

What can you do?

 You can help end the fur industry’s destruction of our planet and cruelty to animals by refusing to buy products made with real fur, including fur trimmed coats and jackets.
 You can post on social networks such as Facebook or send an email to fur-selling companies head offices and ask them to stop commercializing fur.
 You can write letters to your governmental representatives urging them to ban fur in your country.
 You can support the International Anti-Fur Coalition in its efforts to stop the fur industry’s assault on our environment and the animals in it.

And you can help to spread the word: FUR IS RED!