Introduction:

In this blog, I will be discussing why the slaughter of animals for something so unnecessary can affect the animals themselves, the Earth and us!

Since ancient times, wearing fur was used as clothing to survive the cold for example. But around the year 2000, wearing fur has been made popular by trend. Therefore killing animals for their fur. Made even more famous by designer clothing and making them expensive. Around this year, 240 fashion designers included real fur in their collections (BBC,2012). Although having real fur maybe cool to some, the damages it cost not only animals, but humans as well will be deadly.

Warning !! This video contains graphic images of animal abuse

The Slaughter of Innocent Animals 

The Fur Industry (Fashion Industry)

Fashion is seen as an extension of yourself, so what does that say about you if you wear fur? Although being fashionable has always been important in some societies, especially today's, it comes to a great cost of lives that really are not aware this industry exists. The Fur Industry is one of the main reasons animals are slaughtered because it is one of the most successful industries involving people with celebrity type status (PETA, 2012). Although not all celebrities find this a "cool" trend.

 

Test Subjects

Primarily, I decided to only talk about the killing and usage of animal's fur, but I thought of it unfair to do so when there are other animals killed for different purposes. Such as, the dissecting of frogs for example. Despite the fact that is is used for educational purposes, is it really fair to the frog ? People may laugh at this question but it is just hard to comprehend what makes the frog's life less important to ours? Why not dissect a human ? According to the Animal Liberation Front, in the US and Canada, more than a million animals are killed or harmed in university and college courses such as general biology, anatomy, physiology and psychology every year. Rats, cats, dogs and turtles to name a few (1991-94). Inevitably, killing this many animals will catch up with us one day. 

Hunting for a Trophy

There is a difference between killing an animal because you are afraid of them or for the sake of food, and killing them for the sake of pride and money buy selling their skins. Through this way of killing, elephants lose their tusks, snakes and crocodiles become shoes and purses, and cheetahs and lions become hats and coats. It may look glamorous because media makes it look tempting but what people do not get to see is the pain and suffering that the animals have to go through.

There are fur farms where animals such as rabbits are raised for one single purpose, to become a piece of clothing. There are many throughout China and Europe (Britannica: Advocacy for Animals, 2012). But no matter if they are raised in fur farms or free in the wild, killing an animal is still upsetting but industries such as these just do not seem to care.

Delicacy or Animal Cruelty?

Generally, most cultures have their delicacy foods and there is nothing wrong with it. But having said that, there is a fine line between a dish being a delicacy and it being animal cruelty. In this video, it shows how a frog is prepared and how it is eaten. ALIVE!! The one heart wrenching part of this clip is that the frog watches itself being eaten.

In addition, the way some countries kill whales and sharks is also really horrible. Wikipedia (2012) implies that whaling is Japan begun in the early 12th Century and in China, 73 million (Treehugger, 2012) sharks have their dorsal fins cut off for shark fin soup and then thrown back into the ocean. But without their dorsal fins, sharks are unable to swim so they just sink to the bottom of the ocean and die.

Below are some statistics about how many whales and types of whales are killed.

IWC – Japan: Catches Under Objection (1985–1988)

Area	Fin	Sperm	Sei	Brydes	Minke	Sub-total
N. Pacific	0	388	0	634	615	1,637
S. Hemisphere	0	0	0	0	3,882	3,882
Total	0	388	0	634	4,497	5,519

IWC – Japan: Special Permit Catches (1988–2011)

Area	Fin	Sperm	Sei	Brydes	Minke	Sub-total
N. Pacific	0	51	793	546	2,183	3,573
S. Hemisphere	17	0	0	0	10,073	10,090
Total	17	51	793	546	12,256	13,663

Killing of the Earth

The production of fur, wool and leather all harm the Earth and humans. Nerzfarm (n.d) explains that the use of fur farms can have direct environmental damage because having so many animals in a small area would result in an excessive amount of excrement, as it will sink it to the soil and make its way into streams due to
heavy rains. The Nitrogen also impedes the wintering of trees and weakens them. It is also a form of air pollution. In Finland, 1,500 tons of ammonia is produced every year.

Peta claims that the production of leather also has negative affects on the Earth because of tanneries generating around 800,000 tons of chrome shavings annually and ending up in landfills.

Badlands and an unfavorable change in vegetation has been a result in the the production of wool, according to research done by Oxford university. "In New Zealand, methane emissions coming from grazing animals such as sheep constitute about half of the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions." (Peta, 2012)

Activist Groups

Activist groups such as Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the FFA (Fur Free Alliance) all try to abolish the fur trade by putting up pictures and gaining attention through advertisements. Many celebrities are involved as previously mentioned but unfortunately others influences are stronger. The FFA states on their site "...is an international coalition of animal protection organizations working to bring an end to the exploitation and killing of animals for their fur."(2012). Groups like this seem to try do as much as they can but it is just sad that the amount of attention it receives is very little compared to what some socialite wore on the red carpet.

Alternative Fur?

The FFA also advertises a site called Fur-Free Retailers, where people are able to buy faux fur to stores that they distribute to. With this they are try to end the unnecessary and cruel acts by offering "... a company a chance to promote a public policy against violence and cruelty, and to lend its support to the international efforts..." (2003-12). Below are some of the advertisements and magazines they have. FFFashion (Fur Free Fashion).

Conclusion

 There are so many factors to the harming and killing of animals. Animals suffer for human causes and different purposes which are unnecessary yet the human race are aware of the dangers of extinction and we still carry out these horrible acts. Not only are we harming animals but in doing so we harm ourselves. The mass killing of these animals may result in the Earth being more and more inhabitable because from reading all this information, the predictions of a decline in natural resources are becoming more real everyday. The influences that famous people have should be put to better use. We need the Earth, the animals keep the Earth healthy as a part of the circle of life. But the human race is just stuffing it up.

Reference

• Animal Liberation Front. (1991-94). To Harm or Not. Retrieved from http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Animal%20Testing/Industry_Science/harm.htm
• BBC. (2012). Fur Industry. How long have people worn it?. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/animals/fur_industry/newsid_2463000/2463103.stm
• Britanicca: Advocacy for Animals. (2012). The Rabbit: "Poster Child" for Animal Rights. Retrieved from http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/08/rabbits-the-poster-child-for-animal-rights/
• Fur Free Alliance. (2012). Issues. http://www.infurmation.com/index.php/issues
• Fur Free Retailer. (2003-12). Fur Free Retailer for the look that lives. Retrieved from http://www.furfreeretailer.com/
• Nerzfarm. (n.d). Fur and the Environment. Retrieved from http://www.nerzfarm-orsbach.de/external/www.cafteire.net_environment.htm
• PETA. (2012). Media Centre. Retrieved from http://www.peta.org/mediacenter/default.aspx
• PETA. (2012). Wool, Leather and Fur: Hazardous to the Environment. Retrieved from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/wool-fur-and-leather-hazardous-to-the-environment.aspx
• TreeHugger. (2012). 73 Million Sharks killed annually to make Soup despite Fins having no Flavor.  Retrieved from http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/73-million-sharks-killed-annually-to-make-soup-despite-fins-having-no-flavour.html
• Wikipedia. (2012). Whaling in Japan. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_Japan
• Youtube. (2012). Animals are Skinned Alive on Chinese Fur Farms. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLcgxIGTFRs&feature=player_embedded
• Youtube. (2012). Eat the Frog Alive. Can it classify as a Human? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMOMJTMa6i4&feature=player_embedded

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The reason for the title is due to the fact that it is in unfair that animals have to die just to be fashionable. I find that people find this topic hard to confront because of how popular fashion is and they just decide to follow the majority. Each of the links below support anti-fur and they promote their protest and give alternative suggestions for fashion over wearing an animals skin.

10 Links

10) The Fur Industry | PETA

I think this site gives great insight on how animals are treated and also the fact that they mention how animals who are caged and from the the wild are killed in order to produce fashion statements. It is said that caged animals are bought up in a confined and very limited spaced enviroment so therefore this site obviously supports being against wearing fur. This site doesn't limit its information about one type of animal's death. They also talk about sea animals and land animals. PETA = People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA also involves celebrity attention to aid them in the awareness of animal cruelty. In this picture, Waka Flocka Flame models a shirt that supports being against fur.

 
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9) Fur Free Alliance (FFA)

The FFA states the issue that 75 million animals dies each year for a prduct that we do not even need - fashion. They also include the way animals are trapped, fur farms, the Seal Hunt and the effects that the death rate of animals impact has on the enviroment.

Also mentioned are those animals which bear fur and how many of those particular animals are killed in order to make one fur coat. Also that the fur industry tries to shun out what these animals are like, so this site gives us a quick description on the animals and through doing this shows that killing them for something materialistic is the cruelest thing ever. This site provides great information about being anti-fur.

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8) CAFT | Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade

The CAFT helps people understand which side of the fence they are on with the banning of fur. They provide information and are able to educate them on the animals cruelty that happens. Their goal is to ban fur internationally, although it very far fetched. The well being of animals is one of their most major concerns.

 
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7) Respect for Animals

 
This site offers information such as the statistics of  animals that are endangered. For example, the number of Mink that are killed in the U.S for their fur rises by 9% (2011). Which means that there were more than 3 million Mink that were slaughtered last year. There is also documentation for proof of this by the USDA which also includes the amount of money each pelt is worth. This is increasing in countries such as Russia and China.
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6) Animals are Skinned Alive on Chinese Fur Farms
(CAUTION! The link above contains graphic images of animal cruelty)



The video via link is quite disturbing. This is actual truth of the horror that animals have to endure simply because they are born with fur. They are not killing these animals for dinner but for their fur, and what's worse is that the animal is not even dead sometimes when fully skinned. This video is shows the badgering and bludgeoning of animals. Simply helpless. This was hard to even watch and it seriously breaks my heart.
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5) Fur and the Enviroment

In some countries, it was deemed good for the environment but that soon stopped when prosecuted for false advertising. It shows how this is bad for the environment because having animals all in one place can cause their excrement to go into the soil and end up in the ground water. This is not just bad for the environment but also for humans. It also disrupts the circle of life. Predators help out by stopping overpopulation. For example, Foxes hunt Rabbits but if all Foxes die due to the Fur Trade then the Rabbits will overpopulate and eat all greenery which will disrupt our Eco-system. Also the disease that can be spread due to the caging of animals in such horrible conditions.



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4) The Stupid Reasons we Kill Animals

This site just talks about reasons people kill animals such as, for Trophies (Hunting). It states how we should not do this as it affects both the Earth and Humans. Killing animals for such stupid reasons makes us look stupid yet people still do it.... stupid. The reduction of the animal population will soon catch up with human race.

 

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3) The Encyclopedia of Earth | Poachers

There was a Case Study done in Uganda on the population of animals in Uganda from 1960s to present. There has been a great decrease in the number of species left. Although some are slowly increasing, there are still a lot that are decreasing. In this picture, poachers have killed an animal for its horns. Poaching is popular in the African continent because the animals there seem more exotic. It is also easier for poachers to poach in Africa because the laws there are not as forced as other nations.

   

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2) Animal Liberation Front | To harm or Not?

Education is important, I do agree but does an animal have to lose their life over it? I don't think so. In the U.S and Canada, more than 1 million animals die for the sake of education at Universities. Some students protest on the way animals are treated in the name of education. They object to the harmful and unnecessary use of animals, environment disruption and risk to the human health. Some animals are vivisected which the experimentation while they are still alive. Cruelty or Not?

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1) Wool, Fur and Leather | Hazardous to the Enviroment


The unnaturalness of an animal killed for its fur is a contradiction to the Fur Trade industry. There are many problems that arise when the killing of animals goes to the extent of extinction or even almost extinction. Also the fur farms are potential damage to the environment. The excrement of animals huddled up in one place causes it to sink into the ground and get into the rivers. This is also potential harm for us. This site how and explains how Fur, Wool and Leather can harm the environment when be extracted from the animal.