Proof That Fur is Legalized Torture

Feb 18, 2021

"Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children."
-Michael Morpurgo

Definitions

Fur, in this context, refers to products containing the fur or hair of animals, not specifically to the fur or hair itself.

Torture is the act of intentionally inflicting pain on someone, particularly in order to gain something from them; or to suffer, or cause someone to suffer, greatly, physically and/or emotionally.

How Fur is Made: Antemortem

The fur industry is similar to the food industry in many ways. On fur farms, animals are confined in cramped conditions, often locked together in small and filthy cages, and they are bred to produce the final product for which they either suffer immensely or are killed in the process.

Farm-Raised

Most animals used for fur are naturally wild predators -- foxes, raccoon dogs, wolves, coyotes, minks -- making it impossible to perform their most natural functions, such as running, hunting, and/or swimming. Similar to aquatic mammals kept in captivity at marine parks, fur-farmed animals often suffer from debilitating neurological illnesses, developed from confinement and lack of mental or physical stimulation.1

Additionally, as can be expected in such close and unsanitary conditions, many animals acquire physical injuries as well, either from self-harm (such as gnawing on the wires of their cages), other animals (including cannibalization), or from external factors (like extreme weather conditions).1 And as noted in this PETA investigation, some animals are selectively bred to be obese, thereby producing more fur, similar to sheep who are bred to grow wrinkly skin and produce more wool. Undoubtedly, obesity, particularly in such stressful and unhygienic conditions, leads to further health issues before their demise.

To draw a timely comparison, fur farms are essentially closed-door wet markets, where wild or exotic animals are confined and killed, which is why millions of minks have been culled due to their susceptibility to COVID-19.

Living Death

Some species of animals used for fur, such as angora rabbits, are not killed and are instead "plucked" of most of their fur so they can grow it back and have it removed again. Understandably, having fistfuls of fur torn from their skin is agonizing, and they certainly do not suffer silently, as they repeatedly emit bloodcurdling screams of anguish during this process. Just imagine if we were to perform this same practice on fluffy golden retrievers instead.

Wild-Caught

Brands like Canada Goose have become synonymous with winter fashion, but their inhumane products have brought to light some of the most egregiously cruel practices in the industry. Though most people do not support hunting, many animals are still hunted through archaic means and their furs are sold for profit. All for a superfluous piece of trim.

Coyotes, for example, are hunted with traps and often languish in pain for days before the traps are checked. Sometimes the animals caught are mothers, leaving their children to become orphans, and sometimes the babies themselves are caught; traps do not discriminate. In fear and in pain, they may try to gnaw off their own foot to get away, both the trap and their teeth shredding their flesh down to the bone.

How Fur is Made: Perimortem

Because the fur and skin is of most value when it comes to these animals, methods of slaughter must be done with as little damage to the bodies as possible, so there are two forms of killing that are most common. Like pigs and day-old roosters, some fur animals are killed through asphyxiation with CO2 gas. Others are killed by anal electrocution, performed when metal rods are inserted into their anus and mouth before an electric current is sent through their body.1 However, if we know anything about the electric chair used to enact the death penalty, this is hardly a foolproof -- and certainly not painless -- way to kill.

Like the leather industry, fur animals are sometimes still alive when it's time to be skinned. Hung upside down, their skin is peeled away from the flesh beneath and still they thrash around, desperate to be freed from their agony. And as seen in Earthlings, even when their skinless bodies are tossed away, sometimes they lift their heads up in their final moments, alien-like eyes bulging from their bloody skulls -- surrounded by their eyelashes, the only fur left on their bodies -- in one last plea for help, for anything, for someone to save them from this hell of a life they've been forced to live. Simply for being born the wrong species.

(Lack of) Legal Protections

The Animal Welfare Act, created as a means of preventing unnecessary or excessively cruel practices toward animals, specifically excludes any animal used for "food or fiber."2 Additionally, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act includes permitted methods of killing only to certain species of livestock animals and excludes species commonly used in the fur industry.3

All other federal laws protecting fur animals are rife with loopholes and poor regulation. For instance, the Fur Seal Act prohibits the transportation and slaughter of North Pacific seals except when done by indigenous peoples or done for "education, science, or for an exhibition." Other animal welfare laws -- for example, the Lacey Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and even the Endangered Species Act -- have similar loopholes and may actually contradict state laws which permit the killing of various species for fur.3,4

To rub salt in the wound, these meager protections apply only to wild animals caught and killed for fur, not for the millions of animals on farms. There is no humanity or kindness in this industry, only torment.