Student Article High School Science Journal Author: Kelley Heleniak

Fur Is Not Fetch

August 05, 2007

One of the most offensive materials used in the fashion industry today is fur. Using fur or not using fur has been one of the most talked about fashion items. Some people believe that using fur is a form of art, and that they should be able to express their individuality any way they want and if someone doesn’t like it then they don’t have to buy it. Another very passionate side to that argument is that killing innocent animals for a clothing item is horrible, and that whoever wishes to wear a dead animal should be punished. Every single year over 27 million animals are raised and killed to make the fur clothing that people treasure. I believe that farming fur is nothing more than institutionalized torture. It is tragic to think how many animals lives have been put into one garment, all for profit. This business is high profit but an even greater price is paid when the killing of animals is involved. I believe that the animal lots used to hold the minks, and foxes can be closely related to feed lots, in the negative sense. These lots are not constructed to create a happy life for the animals they are made to hold as many as possible, to maximize out put. The cages that the animals are kept in are generally a few inches too short for the size of that animal, by not having enough space it creates physiological issues with the animals. Most of the animals become neurotic; some are even forced to cannibalism because they are not being fed enough. These ranches are in some cases worse than the wild traps because the owners do not care how the animals are living. Some people like to argue that the fur they own isn’t made from mistreated animals that it is humane and therefore okay to wear. This is incorrect, there is no such thing are “humane” fur, all the fur used has been taken from an animal that has been killed. The fur that is produced from ranches is not any better than the fur taken from animals that get trapped in the wild. The fur being used doesn’t only come from farmed;

8.5 million animals are caught in the wild, and then used for fur. In the United States 2.5 million animals are being caught and killed in the name of fashion. This is a horrendous number, what’s even worse is to that think the animals killed served a purpose, they had a niche. Animals that are caught from the wild are removed from their habitat, disrupting the balance that has established in this area. Another environmental problem is the fact that the fur ranches are not fully supervised by the owners, little things slip by that can create big problems. By not paying attention to details these lots are disease ridden and they hold many sick, injured animals. The animals live in their own filth, this filth seeps down into the ground corrupting the ground water. Most people don’t think that the fur industry can affect them, but most people do not realize that their drinking water could possibly be getting an extra addition of nutrients via mink and fox fecal matter. The issue of fur farms could be rectified if the public became more educated. I strongly believe that the people who wear fur are living without the knowledge of how their fur is created into their wonderful coat. If American became more concerned with the living conditions of the mink and the foxes then changes could be made. The fur farms will never completely go away, but the conditions in which the poor animals live can be changed. The cages can be made bigger, and food available for them these minor changes would fix one of the problems with the fur industry. Unfortunately the fur industry is still growning because of the increasing demand for fur items, but if action is taken then a problem can be resolved.

 
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