❦Awareness Helps❦ Animals For Fashion
AGAINST ANIMALS USED FOR FASHION
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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.
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!
THE FINAL NAIL: LISTING OF FUR FARMS IN THE UNITED STATES
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (National Agricultural Statistics Service), there were 265 mink farms in operation in 2010. Leading states were Wisconsin, Utah and Idaho. Although the number of fur farms has decreased (there were 350 mink farms in the U.S. in 2000, and 771 in 1990), the total number of mink pelts “produced” has not decreased significantly.
SILKWORMS: FROM COCOON TO SILK
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity. To produce 1 kg of silk, 104 kg of mulberry leaves must be eaten by 3000 silkworms. It takes about 5000 silkworms to make a pure silk kimono. 104 The construction of silk is called sericulture. The major silk producers are China (54%) and India (14%).
Mohandas Gandhi was also critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy “not to hurt any living thing.” This led to Gandhi’s promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths. Ahimsa silk is promoted in parts of Southern India for those who prefer not to wear silk produced by killing silkworms. Ahimsa silk is also known as peace silk.
KARAKUL LAMBS
Karakul sheep are kept for milking, meat, pelts, and wool. Very young or even fetal Karakul lambs are prized for pelts. The lambs must be under three days old when they are killed, or they will lose their black color and soft, tightly wound coils of fur. Their tiny bodies, no more than 10 pounds are considered trash and discarded.
COATS FOR CUBS: DONATE YOUR UNWANTED FUR TO HELP WILDLIFE
Fur can provide warmth and comfort to orphaned and injured wild animals. Wildlife rehabilitators will usually cut the fur into an appropriate size for the animal, whether it be a bobcat, fox, raccoon, squirrel, or rabbit, and place it inside the animal’s enclosure. The furry blanket becomes a surrogate mother to orphaned animals, reducing stress and giving comfort.
One rehabilitator related a story about a restless orphaned river otter who chirped constantly. Once she was given a fur blanket, she settled right down. Turning the sleeve of a fur coat inside out, a rehabilitator can also create a warm nest for a burrowing animal such as an opossum. Some animals adopt a piece of fur as a playmate, jumping on it and wrestling with it.
FUR FARMING: TIME FOR A BAN
ARAN, Respect for Animals and the Animal, Anima and Fur Free Alliance have released the findings of a new 2011 undercover investigation into Ireland’s shameful fur factory farms, showing that yet again, animal suffering, is still very much business as usual.
The recently obtained footage from an Irish mink farm, reveals images of animal suffering, including painful injuries on mink’s tails; cramped, aged and filthy cages riddled with the animal faeces, and more shockingly the images of stressed, traumatised and balding animals; which spotlights the stereotypical behaviour associated with intensive farming.
