No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink - Author Unknown
The Fur Council of Canada has recently launched a "Fur is Green" campaign, preying on the ideals of eco-conscious consumers. Fur is not green and it's not humane. Following are facts the Fur Council of Canada doesn't want you to know about the reportedly 2 million Canadian animals killed for fur and fur-trimmed garments.
Animal Suffering
Image courtesty of Fur Bearer Defenders
Get a feel for fur: Slam your fingers in a car door.—Anonymous (on the use of steel traps to capture fur-bearing animals)
Wild Fur-Bearing Animals:
Approximately half of the 2 million animals killed in Canada for their fur, are trapped. Muskrats, beavers and martens make up the majority of animals killed, followed by racoons, coyotes, foxes, fishers, otters, lynx, bobcats and minks.
Animals trapped in leg-hold traps, conibear traps and snares are brutally held, with agonizing injuries, in all kinds of weather, without food, water or shelter, until the trapper eventually arrives to kill them.
The leg-hold trap, which is most commonly used in Canada, is banned in 63 other countries.
It is estimated that one in every four animals will excruciatingly chew his/her own leg off to free its limb from the leg-hold trap.
Farmed Fur-Bearing Animals:
Foxes and mink make up the majority of the approximately 1 million animals killed in Canada on fur farms, followed by chinchillas, nutrias, rabbits and raccoons.
The use of hormones and environmental manipulation to improve breeding and profit are the norm on fur farms. Animals are inbred for specific colours, causing severe abnormalities such as deafness, crippling, deformed sex organs, screw necks, weakened immune systems, anaemia, sterility, and disturbances of the nervous system.
Fur farms closely resemble factory farms in that animals are intensely confined, poorly sheltered, fed an unnatural diet, and brutally killed between 7 and 10 months of age with such inhumane methods as anal electrocution, gassing, neck breaking and lethal injection.
Environment
Fur is a "natural fibre" when it's still on the animal's back. Once the animal has been skinned, the fur needs to be tanned in order to stop it from biodegrading. The tanning process uses serious environmental contaminents including formaldehyde and chromium.
Similar to factory farms, fur farms produce a massive amount of animal waste and consume copious amounts of water. Animal waste contains high amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen. When it rains this waste can wash downhill towards streams and other bodies of water. Other times it is left to soak into the soil, and can contaminate the ground water. The nutrients in the waste lead to excessive algae growth which in turn depletes the oxygen in the water. This can kill more sensitive species of fish and make the water unsuitable for humans.
Trappers are not conservationists. Trapping has a detrimental effect on endangered species, and stimulates disease and overpopulation in wildlife.
The Sea Mink, which used to live in the coastal waters of Newfoundland and is now extinct, was eradicated by the fur trade. Other species, including the Newfoundland Marten and Quebec's Wolverine are endangered species whose decline can be directly linked to trapping.
Non-Target Animals
Image Courtesty of Fur Bearer Defenders
"Trash animals" is the term used by the fur industry to describe the non-target animals that are caught in traps, because they have no economic value.
For a typical 40" fur coat, the following animals are killed:
Target Animal: # of Target Animals; # of Trash Animals; Total Hours Spent in a Trap
Beaver: 15; 45; 225
Coyote: 16; 48; 960
Lynx: 18; 54; 1,080
Mink: 60; 180; 3,600
Muskrat: 50; 150; 1,500
Opossum: 45; 135; 2,700
Otter: 20; 60; 1,200
Red Fox: 42; 126; 2,520
Raccoon: 40; 120; 2,400
Sable: 50; 150; 3,000
Seal: 8; - ; 32
Statistics from Skin Trade Primer by Susan Russell, published by Friends of Animals; Table courtesy of PETA
Below is a link to a recent news article from Kelowna, BC about a family's dog caught in a trapper's line.
Family Pet Killed by Trapper's Line
What You Can Do
Stock image
Educate yourself – contact NAfA for more information on the fur industry.
Educate others – let your friends and family know about your concerns regarding the millions of animals killed for their fur each year in Canada, as well as the devastating environmental consequences and the tragic fate of "trash" animals. Don't buy fur or fur-trimmed garments.
Links
To learn more about the fur industry, visit the following informative websites:
Global Action Network - Fur Trade
Fur Free Nation
Fur Is Dead
Archives
Annual Canadian Seal Hunt
International Respect for Chickens Month (May)
Animals in Entertainment: Circuses
Veganism
