Shocking Facts Behind Animal Fur Clothing

Introduction

Nowadays, human’s clothing is often produced by leather wool and fur of animals which are slaughtered for the clothing industry brutally. The mass production of animal fur has led to the cruel system of fur farming, animal trapping, etc. Human use animals products for nothing but their own vanity – human never realize what have the animals suffer to endure their vanity.

Fur farming factory

Most of the animal furs are traded through factory farms and purchased from fur actions around the world every year.

In 2015, a hidden camera has revealed the facts behind the slaughter of animals on fur farm by a Polish Fur Free Alliance member Oywarte Klatki.

Thanks to this hidden camera, which has shown the world something that can never be shown on the social medias or other social networks. In the above picture, we can see that raccoon dogs getting killed by electrocution in front of other animals watching the whole scene from their cages. It is even worse on another farm: foxes are killed inside their cages, surrounded by other foxes witnessing the death of their cage-mates. The ones who are left alive see the bodies of those already dead being thrown from place to place, before the workers take them to a skinning shed.

The Top 10 Animals Killed for Clothing

1. Silk Worms – Silk is a protein fibre obtained from Silkworm. 3000 silkworms which sacrifice their lives
2. Seals – Baby seals are often clubbed to death for human clothing. 95% of seals killed in Canada are hunt when they are just between 3 weeks to 3 months old.
3. Rabbits – Angora Rabbit wool are reared and shared alive instead of after their death.
4. Foxes – Fox pelt are usually used for an accessory such as scarves. They are being confined in cages and treated cruelly.
5. Sheep – old sheep are sheared first for once only, then they are slaughter
6. Lambs – lambs are killed in their mother’s womb, or even before when they are born
7. Chiru – Chiru is one of the endangered animals in the Himalayas. They cannot be hunted or killed for fur. Yet, there are still thriving black market hunting them for their fur
8. Minks – Mink Coats have a symbol of luxury that is hard to afford – they keep dying due to fulfilling human’s vanity
9. Beavers – Beavers are killed for costs and outerwear
10. Dogs & Cats – in facts, many fur products are actually sourced from cats and dogs, yet the products might be labelled as other animals fur such as Mongolian wolf. Human is often be fooled by wearing luxury fur products.

In facts, a lot more brands and designer are now promoting the Fur-Free concept nowadays; they are against animal cruelty for their own products. However, there are still many other industries and designers using animals cruelty, such as beauty products which has deprived animals’ rights to live.

Designers / Brands that still use fur

• Balenciaga
• Dior
• Canada Goose
• Hermes
• Louis Vuitton
• Valentino
• Yves Saint Laurent
• Marc Jacobs

Even though there are regulations that actually help to prevent animal cruelty, i.e. U.S. Lacey Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Fur products Labelling Act, and Dogs and Cat Fur Protection Act in U.S. However, these regulations have only reduced the amount of fur farming, but they do not actually stop or ban the fur farms. There are some major animal fur producers such as China, the Netherlands, Russia and especially U.S. Finland, the largest supplier of fox pelts. The U.S. has also become a major exporter of animals’ fur products. As a result, it indicates that the protection for animal rights are still very weak today. There are too little on-point laws that are actually concerned for fur animals. Some countries like China does not even have any regulations to protect animals.

Today, humans have unlimited choices for clothing and textiles. However, the demand for leather, fur and wool keep increasing. BUT, do we really need it? Can we also be fashionable without wearing and using animal skin? We should really think about this question and reflecting on our own: whether animal fur for our clothing is a necessity.

Works Cited

“Fur Free Retailers:” Humane Society International, hsi.org.au/campaign/animal-welfare-5/fur-trade.

“Fur Production and Fur Laws.” Animal Law Legal Center, www.animallaw.info/intro/fur-production-and-fur-laws.

“Shocking Footage of Cruel Fox Slaughter in Poland.” Fur Free Alliance, 6 Jan. 2017, www.furfreealliance.com/shocking-footage-of-cruel-fox-slaughter-in-poland/.

“Top 10 Animals Killed for Clothing.” Vegan Souls RSS, www.vegansouls.com/animals-killed-for-clothing.