http://www.infurmation.com/facts.php
Facts about the Fur Trade
Statistics
Each year
the fur industry kills over 50 million animals for fashion, not including
rabbits (no reliable data on rabbits killed worldwide for fur is available).
Number of Animals to Make a Fur Coat:
12-15 lynx
10-15 wolves
or coyotes
15-20 foxes
60-80 minks
27-30 racoons
10-12
beavers
60-100
squirrels
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Fur Factory Farms
More
than 45 million animals worldwide, including raccoon dogs, rabbits, foxes, mink,
and chinchillas, are raised in cages and killed each year for their fur. Not
only are cage-raised animals killed inhumanely, but they suffer from numerous
physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of caging
conditions. After spending their short lives in squalid conditions, animals
raised on fur farms are killed by cruel methods that preserve the pelt, such as
gassing, neck-breaking and anal electrocution.
Further
information:
Caged Fur: The Inside Story
Respect
for Animals: Fur Factory Farming
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Trapping
Millions of wild
animals, including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, lynx, raccoons, and wolves, suffer
and die in traps each year. Countless dogs and cats, deer, birds and other
animals—including threatened and endangered animals—are also injured and killed
each year by the indiscriminate traps. Traps, including steel-jaw leghold traps,
body-gripping traps, and wire neck snares, are inhumane devices that inflict
great pain and suffering. Both the American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association have declared the steel-jaw
leghold trap to be inhumane.
Further Information:
Born Free USA united with
Animal Protection Institute
Get The Facts -
The Truth About Trapping
Fact Sheet: Trapping
on National Wildlife Refuges
Even companion animals like dogs and
cats are at risk of severe injury and death in traps and snares. A sampling of
HSUS case history reports reveals just how traumatic the experience can be, both
for pets and their owners.
[more]
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Cat and Dog Fur
A 1998
investigation by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) exposed the
international fur industry's ugly secret: the widespread slaughter of companion
animals—domestic dogs and cats—for the manufacture of clothing, accessories, and
trinkets. Investigators witnessed firsthand the brutal slaughter of domestic
dogs and cats in China and other Asian nations. Many of these animals are raised
in cold, unsanitary breeding compounds. Some are strays. Others are obviously
pets who were most likely stolen. And the killing methods are grisly.
Dogs—German shepherds, chows, and mixed breeds—are bludgeoned or bled to death.
Cats are often strangled by wire nooses.
Further
Information:
Betrayal of Trust: The Global Trade in Dog and Cat Fur
Respect for Animals
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Canadian Seal Hunt
Canada's annual commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of
marine mammals on the planet. Over 300,000 harp and hooded seals are killed for
their pelts each year, with many skinned alive, according to independent
veterinary reports. The last time this many seals were killed—in the 1950s and
1960s—the harp seal population was reduced by as much as two-thirds. In 2005,
98.5% of the seals killed were just two months of age or younger. At the time of
slaughter, many had not yet eaten their first solid meal or taken their first
swim. They literally had no escape from the "hunters."
Further
Information:
www.humanesociety.org/protectseals
href="http://www.boycott-canada.com/"
target=_new>www.boycott-canada.com
href="http://www.stopthesealhunt.ca/"
target=_new>www.stopthesealhunt.ca
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Newborn and Fetal Karakul Lambs
Garments made from the pelts of newborn karakul lambs—often
referred to as "Persian lamb," "karakul," and "astrakhan,"—are a staple of the
fur fashion world. So too are garments made of fetal karakul lambs (known as
"broadtail"), which the fur industry claims are crafted from animals born
prematurely due to accident or exposure. In March 2000, investigators with The
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) toured a karakul sheep farm near
Bukhara, in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, and found that pregnant
ewes are in fact routinely slaughtered for these fetal pelts. Graphic videotape
shot at the farm shows a pregnant ewe held down, her throat slit and her stomach
slashed wide so that a worker could remove the developing fetus—the "raw
material" for coats, vests, and other broadtail fashions. What's more, contrary
to the industry's claims that karakul lamb fur is merely a byproduct of meat
production, HSUS investigators videotaped newborn lambs displayed as "samples"
of pelt colors before being sent to their death. The pelts were saved, the tiny
carcasses discarded as trash.
Further Information:
See the video
or read the report on The Humane Society of the United States' investigation
into karakul lamb fur production
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Fur Trim
The fur industry
is working on a whole new line. No longer limited to full-length mink coats or
fox-fur jackets, fur trim is the rage. From suit collars to glove linings, fur
trim is being used as an accessory for many fashion items. Fur-trimmed items
currently are a half billion-dollar industry. Fur trim is a frivolous luxury
responsible for the deaths of millions of animals each year. The number of
animals killed for fur trim is expected to overtake the number of animals killed
for full-fur garments. Because the trim trade doesn't place as much emphasis on
pelt quality, color, and uniformity, the quality of care given to furbearers is
diminished.
Further Information:
A Little Bit of Fur Is Big
Business
Dog Scandal Pushes New Fur Labeling
Bill
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