Photo Credit: Patrick Kwan

After decades of decreased sales, the fur industry has changed its marketing tactics – promoting fur as ethical, green and even animal friendly.  Yet each year, the fur industry kills over 50 million animals for the sake of fashion.

More than 45 million animals, including minks, foxes, raccoon, chinchillas, rabbits, bobcats and lynx, are raised on fur farms.  Animals raised on these farms frequently develop physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of cage conditions.  After living their short lives in these inhumane conditions, they are killed by cruel methods to preserve their pelts, including gassing, neck-breaking and anal electrocution.

Millions of wild animals also suffer and die in traps each year, as well as countless dogs, cats, deer, birds and other animals that are injured and killed by the indiscriminate use of traps.  Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association have declared the steel-jaw leghold trap to be inhumane.

Act Now

The Humane Society of the United States has developed a Fur-Free Action Guide to help you take a stand against the fur industry.  Here’s what you can do to help:

• Sign the fur-free pledge – when compassionate consumers refuse to support the fur industry, designers will stop using fur, retailers will stop selling it, and fashion writers will stop reporting it as an acceptable trend.

• Support fur-free retailers and designers – more and more retailers and designers are rejecting animal cruelty and potential consumer deception by adopting fur-free policies.  Show your support of those who have pledged to be fur-free.

• Get rid of those old furs – donate your furs to the Coats for Cubs program to help wildlife rehabilitators, who use them to warm and comfort orphaned and injured wildlife.

Why It Matters

With an eye toward the future, the fur industry has rebranded itself as the antithesis of “fast fashion”.  It would appear that this marketing tactic is having some impact as dozens of designers are using fur in their collections.  In a ploy to attract younger designers, manufacturers have even donated expensive pelts to fashion students to use in their undergraduate collections.

“Fur is the big fashion story of the autumn 2011-12 collections,” states Andy Lenhart, chairman of the International Fur Trade Federation.  “Wholesale prices at the 2010-11 auctions reached all-time highs so we expect an even bigger increase.”

Check out this video of the sixth annual Cool vs. Cruel Fashion Competition sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States.

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