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More on fur

Animals killed for their skins are either caught in the wild in cruel traps, or they are bred in small wire cages that cause a high level of stress. Smaller numbers of animals are shot, such as kangaroos in Australia, or clubbed to death, like seals.

Trapping

Most fur-bearing animals that are killed in the wild are caught in traps, a majority in steel-jaw (leg-hold) traps, but some are caught in body-grip (Conibear) traps or wire snares.

The USA, Canada and the former Soviet Union are the main trapping nations. Around 7.5 million animals a year are trapped, not counting the unwanted species that also get caught in traps (1). Traps are set for around 20 species of fur-bearing animals, including foxes, raccoons, squirrels, beavers, muskrats, mink, coyotes and lynx.

Traps are cruel

Leg-hold traps don't kill instantly, but inflict terrible pain and injury. They break bones, dislocate joints, and tear muscles and tendons. Animals sometimes chew off their own leg to escape from this torture. Imagine slamming your hand in a car door and you'll have some idea of the agony caused by traps.

A Swedish government trapping campaign, before traps were banned, showed that of 645 foxes caught, 514 were classed as "seriously injured". Over 200 of the animals had knocked out teeth in their desperate effort to escape (2).

A study in Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge showed that around 25% of mink, raccoons, and foxes chewed off their trapped foot to escape. Most of these animals probably died due to blood loss, infection or inability to hunt. An earlier study found that 37% of raccoons mutilated themselves when trapped (2).

Trappers are supposed to check their traps regularly. However, this law is difficult to police in wilderness areas, and a trapper with a long trap line is unlikely to be able to inspect each trap each day. Animals can linger in these traps, in absolute agony, for 1-3 days or even longer. They may die of starvation, dehydration, hypothermia or predation before the trapper finds them (2).

The following advice is given in a US trapper's training course for killing animals that still alive in traps:

1. "Break the neck of the animal by putting a stick over it, stand on it and then heave the body up high.

2. Stun or choke it. Beat it on the head with a shovel right where the head meets the neck. After this, stand on the neck while resting your weight in the place where the heart is: this works especially well in foxes.

3. Cudgel it. This is the commonest killing method. The animal gets several blows on the head with a hammer, shovel or any convenient tool.

4. Drowning is recommended for muskrat, beaver, raccoon and also for skunk.

5. A .22 rifle can be used for most animals, except for the muskrat" (1).

Traps are set on the ground, in trees or in the water, depending on the species the trapper wishes to catch. Traps are set in the water for beavers, mink and muskrats. A study of these traps showed that all animals struggle for 2-5 minutes, with the average time to drowning being 9.5 minutes. Beavers, being adapted to diving, can take 20 minutes to die, making this a frantic, drawn-out death (2).

Some trappers use snares to catch animals. These are wire cables formed into a noose. When an animal walks into the noose, it is caught around the neck, body or leg. The more the animal pulls against it, the tighter the noose becomes. A snare around the neck or body will strangle its victim or crush vital organs. The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) has called snares "the most primitive, indiscriminate and inhumane" of traps used legally in the US. HSUS gives the following gruesome description:
" Animals killed in snares are often referred to as 'jellyheads' because of the thick, bloody lymph fluid that swells their heads and necks " (3).

If a snare catches an animal around the leg, it will almost certainly lose the limb, as described in a fur industry trade journal:
" It (a snare) is known to completely cut off the blood supply to the limb, causing foot damage, tissue death and certain loss of the limb. The cable has the ability to cut like a knife. These facts are well documented with obvious results " (2).

The World Veterinary Association has stated that the steel-jaw leg-hold trap is inhumane. The trap is now banned in over 60 countries because it is so cruel. The member countries of the European Union (EU) are among those who have imposed a ban (1).

In Australia, steel-jaw traps are still legal to catch so-called pest animals, like dingoes.

Traps are not selective

Traps are not selective in the animals they catch.

• A study by the US Fish and Wildlife Service of a coyote control trapping programme showed that of 1199 animals trapped only 138 were coyotes; the remaining 1061 animals were non-target species (4).

• A study by the Ontario Department of Land and Forest of professional trap lines showed that of 1911 trapped animals, only 561 were fur-bearing species. The remaining 1350 were what trappers refer to as "trash" animals because they are of no use to the fur industry. Most of these non-target animals have to be killed because of the severity of their injuries (4).

• Near human settlements pet cats and dogs can be caught in traps (4).

• According to a former trapper, the general finding is that at least 2 non-target animals are trapped for every one target animal (3).

There are no humane traps

In response to the bad publicity surrounding steel-jaw traps, trappers have been keen to develop a "humane" trap. The Conibear or body-grip trap, for example, is supposed to kill an animal instantly by breaking its neck when it walks between the 2 frames of the trap. However, if the animal is not correctly positioned, the trap will snap shut on its body rather than its neck. The animal may then slowly suffocate due to crushed ribs. Only 15% of the victims die instantly. Canadian researchers have been trying to develop a body-grip trap that will kill 70% of the victims within 5 minutes. So far they have not succeeded, which shows just how inhumane the trap is (2).

There are now leg-hold traps with rubber pads. They don't break as many bones as the steel-jaw traps, but they are not "humane". In one study of trapped coyotes, both padded and unpadded traps caused major swelling and internal bleeding to all trapped legs. Both types of traps caused major gashes in the skin to about one quarter of all legs. In unpadded traps, 95% of legs had tendon and ligament lacerations, and 90% of legs had a broken bone. Both these figures were much lower in padded traps but they still caused painful injuries to legs (5).

In addition, they also lead to mouth injuries, as terrified animals attack the trap that is causing them so much pain. One study found that 19% of trapped foxes had severe mouth injuries, including broken jaws (6).

Apart from damage caused by the trap itself, there is further trauma because the instinct of a frightened wild animal is either to fight or to run away (7):

"... an animal will often inflict more injuries on itself by trying to escape from a restraining trap than the trap could ever do by simply snapping shut on its leg. Animals will frequently chew their legs off in order to get free from a trap. They also attack the trap itself, usually by gnawing on the steel with their teeth. This causes terrible damage to their mouths, crushing and splintering their teeth and exposing raw gums ."

Trappers try to justify their activity by claiming that they prevent over-population and that they control diseases such as rabies. However, since most of the animals trapped are not the target species, trapping is an inefficient (as well as a cruel) way of controlling a population. Traps are also more likely to catch healthy than diseased animals, since healthy animals are more active and mobile and so are more likely to step into a trap (4).

Apart from trapping wild animals, Harp and Hooded seals are still clubbed to death for their fur. The slaughter continues even though Canada banned the slaughter of very young pups due to international pressure. In 1996 there were 268,921 seals killed in Canada. In addition, 101 sealers were charged with selling 25,000 protected seal pup skins. Norway killed 20,000 seals for fur, Russia killed 30,000 and Namibia killed 50,000 (1).

Fur farms

Fur producers like to claim that fur farms are not cruel. The word 'farm' conjures up an image of wide open spaces, but in fact fur farms consist of rows and rows of small wire mesh cages under open sheds. They are like battery cages for hens. Large farms may keep over 100,000 animals.

Life in cages is stressful

The most common species kept on fur farms are mink and foxes. There are smaller numbers of other animals, such as chinchillas, coypus and sables. These animals still have all their natural instincts, as shown by the fact that when they escape from their cages they survive very well in the wild. However, they can't carry out their instinctive behaviour in small wire cages.

Mink are naturally solitary animals who defend several kilometres of territory along rivers or marshland. They are active and agile hunters both on land and in the water, and love running, swimming and climbing. They are naturally curious animals. A review of the natural behaviour of wild mink concluded:
" Extensive studies of such animals indicate that kits do not leave their natal territory until 11 or 12 weeks of age, that climbing, swimming and diving are significant aspects of their lifestyle, that they regularly engage in travelling and foraging over distances of at least 1-3km, that they make use of a number of different dens and that they probably make extensive use of scent marking and olfactory cues. All these aspects of their natural behaviour are denied them on mink farms. " (8)

A standard mink cage measures 90 by 30 cm and is 30 cm high. It is bare wire except for a nest box attached to the outside. One mink or a brother-sister pair will spend their life in this small area until they are killed and skinned at 8 months of age. Six to eight of these cages are joined side by side, and each shed contains 2 or more such rows (8). Considering that mink are solitary, this is a lot of animals in a relatively small space.

Stress and frustration in cages leads to abnormal behaviour. Animal behaviourists have found that mink, like many other caged animals, perform repeated and purposeless movements, including continuous running up and down the cage and head circling. In one study, 70% of the mink performed such stereotyped behaviour, with 50% of them spending over a quarter of their waking hours in this purposeless activity (8).

Tail-biting is another common form of abnormal behaviour (9), as is fur chewing. One study found that around 20% of mink in the Netherlands have tails with bald tips. Sucking or biting tails in this way is an abnormal behaviour caused by stress. Mink with bitten tails had enlarged adrenal glands, showing that they had experienced a high level of chronic stress (10).

A review study concluded:
" The high level and pervasiveness of stereotypies among farmed mink, and the incidence of fur chewing and even self-multilation of tail tissue, suggest that farmed mink welfare is not good. " (8)

Inbreeding to produce particular colours in mink has led to various abnormalities. The Hedlund white mink becomes deaf, and the Royal Pastel is prone to screw neck, a nervous disorder which causes the animals to turn their head round and round (2).

Foxes are also active animals who cover many kilometres every day in their hunting and foraging activities. However, in Finland the size of a fox cage is 60cm by 105cm. These animals also show abnormal behaviour in cages, including pacing and cannibalism. Some vixens (female foxes) attack their own pups. Imagine the trauma of the pups from this description by a researcher (11):

" Some vixens bit off the tails gradually, 1-2cm at a time, until virtually nothing was left. Infanticidal vixens usually bit off the tail of all pups, although only a few pups might later be killed ."

The Humane Society of the US points out how unsuited foxes are confinement:
" Foxes are particularly unsuited for cage raising: they are extremely fearful of humans and generally anxious in the typical caging environment. They tremble, defecate and withdraw to the back of their cages. They may attempt to bite when handled (handling involves holding the fox by the neck with tongs and grabbing the tail). As estimated 10 to 20 percent of female foxes, or vixens, kill their offspring. Many vixen fail to reproduce at all " (3).

In 1994 a report commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture showed that the welfare of foxes on farms was unacceptably poor. In 1995 the Dutch government announced a 10 year phase out of fox farms. They also decided to outlaw the farming of chinchillas.

The Norwegian Department of Agriculture's Ethical Committee in 1994 was also critical of fox farming (6):
" ... fur farming involves predators with a limited degree of domestication ... which do not receive any outlet for their natural behaviour. Even though the physical health condition of Norwegian fur animals is good ... stereotyped behaviour, fright reactions and infanticide suggests that the animals are not suited to their environment" .

In 1998 the Austrian government banned all fur farming. Cages in Switzerland are only legal if they allow animals to carry out their natural behaviour, so there are no fur farms in Switzerland.

Death on the fur farm

Animals on fur farms are killed by a variety of methods. Mink are killed by breaking the neck, gassing with carbon monoxide from car exhausts or carbon dioxide, or lethal injection into the stomach. Poisons used for these injections include chloral hydrate, magnesium sulphate, or nicotine sulphate, possibly in the forms of pesticide (3). All of these methods can cause suffering. One study showed that exhaust gases, even when they have been filtered and passed through a water tank, cause severe convulsions in mink before they are unconscious (12). Another study has shown that mink find carbon dioxide very aversive (13). When carbon dioxide was added to a chamber where they were playing, they immediately raced out into fresh air, coughing and spluttering.

Foxes are usually electrocuted. The fox is picked up by tongs around the neck, then one electrode is clamped to the nose and the other electrode is inserted into the rectum, as shown in the photo opposite. An electric current is then passed between the electrodes, through the body of the fox.

Fur coats cost many lives

A fur coat is very costly in terms of animal life and suffering. It takes the following number of dead animals to make an average sized fur coat (1):

60-70 sable	12-18 ocelots
130-200 chinchillas	16-20 beavers
30-40 raccoons	10-16 otters
30-70 mink	10-20 foxes
100-400 squirrels	8-12 lynx
12-18 coyotes	180-240 ermine
6-10 seals	26-34 coypus
16-22 bobcats	30-40 rabbits
15-20 domestic dogs	20-30 domestic cats

Apart from not buying fur coats, it is just as important to avoid fur trims, linings and hats . An estimated 90% of fox fur is used for trims on clothing (3). Just because it is "only a little bit" doesn't lessen the suffering of the animals.

The fur trade has declined

Although the fur trade has declined since the 1980s, large numbers of animals are still killed for their fur. The following tables show the number of pelts from fur farms worldwide.

Number of mink pelts:

1989	1990	1992	1993	1994
39,800,000	28,400,000	26,600,000	19,500,000	22,615,000

In 1998, there were 28.3 million farmed mink killed worldwide. The Coalition for the Abolition of the Fur Trade explained this apparent increase as follows:
" Many of the top fur farming countries are urging their producers to cut back production so we are seeing an excess of skins marketed because many are pelting out their breeding stock... This (28.3 million mink) is an increase of 5.5% over last year, and is probably entirely linked to the skins of animals that would normally be held back for breeding purposes " (2).

The largest number of mink are kept in the Scandinavian countries (15.9 million), with Denmark heading the list, followed by the USA (2.8 million), Russia and smaller numbers in other countries (2).

Number of fox pelts

1986	1988	1989	1990	1992	1993	1994
5,300,000	4,900,000	3,400,000	2,600,000	2,700,000	2,400,000	3,159 ,000

4.7 Million fox furs were offered for sale in 1998. Of this, 80% came from the Scandinavian countries, especially Finland (2.7 million). Russia, Poland and China are other major fox producing countries (2).

Fur sales have declined in Western countries. For example, there was a 90% drop in fur sales in the Netherlands in the early 80s, and the number of fur shops from 300 to 30 in only 5 years. The famous department store Harrod's of London closed its fur department in 1990. In Adelaide (South Australia) all the fur sections in department stores and all fur shops have closed.

However, fur sales in some countries are increasing, for example, in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia and Eastern Europe (6). Less information about cruelty is available in those countries, and rich people still think it is a status symbol to wear the skins of dead animals.

Cat and dog skins

The Humane Society of the US conducted an undercover investigation of the use of dog and cat fur in the industry. They focused on China, the Philippines and Thailand, although dog and cats are also killed in other Asian countries such as Korea.

Around 2 million dogs and cats are killed per year for the fur trade. German Shepherds are particularly popular because of their colouring. The video footage collected by HSUS shows gross cruelty in the way the animals are handled and killed. They are clubbed, suffocated or bled to death. One scene shows a German Shepherd blinking while being skinned, in other words he was still alive.

The dog and cat furs are exported to Western countries and sold with names such as gae-wolf so consumers don't know what they are buying. The fur is not only used to make jackets, but for trim on coats, hats, gloves, and toys.

For more information on this cruel industry, go to Humane Society .

Fur and the environment

Fur is not the ecologically friendly product that furriers say it is. Fur farms waste food. In Finland alone, 50 million kilograms of Baltic herring and 80 million kilograms of corn are fed to the animals. This is a large amount of food to produce an unnecessary luxury item (4).

In 1994 WSPA investigators visited a Russian fur farm with 20,000 Arctic foxes and 120,000 mink. They found 2500 seal pup carcases used to feed the animals. On other farms they found dead grey whales, walruses and seals (6).

In Finland fur farms also produce 70 million kilograms of concentrated droppings each year, which can pollute land and water ways (4).

Fur is skin cut from dead animals. The chemicals that are used to preserve the bleeding pelt to stop it from rotting are not environmentally friendly. These chemicals include sulphuric, fomic and lactic acids, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, chromium salts, alum, sodium chlorite, copper sulphate and ferous sulphate. Complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK stopped advertisements by a furrier claiming that fur was environmentally friendly (6).

Traps are not selective and catch many non-target species, including endangered animals. Pets can also end up being killed, either accidentally in traps, or deliberately. WSPA investigators in the Ukraine found a pound where stray dogs and cats were captured and skinned for hats and gloves. The bodies were used to feed mink on fur farms (6).

In the past, several species of animals were driven to the brink of extinction by the fur industry, including the Juan Fernandez, Guadelupe and Antarctic fur seals and the sea otter. Fortunately these populations are recovering. However, now many spotted cat species are endangered because of the fur trade (14).

Even when species are protected, there will always be poachers willing to break the law for the big money someone will pay for a rare pelt. In April 1995 WSPA undercover investigators were offered illegal ocelot skins for sale in Brazil (6).

The following are some statements from the Encyclopedia of Mammals (vol 1):

" The most serious threat to small cats is the fur trade, which continues to demand large numbers of spotted cat skins, despite adverse public opinion. The resulting pressure on wild populations of these rare, beautiful and little understood creatures is pushing many of them to the brink of extinction. ...

When a species becomes too scarce to provide the minimum number of skins demanded by the trade, another more common one is exploited by illegal hunters. Thus, species by species, the small spotted cats are being hunted to a point where the remaining populations are so small and widely dispersed that they may never recover....

Snow leopards are extremely rare in many parts of their range due to the demand for their skins by the fur trade. Although in many countries it is now illegal to use these furs, the trade continues and the species remains under threat...

Leopard numbers are declining almost everywhere, partly from hunting for their fur, which is highly prized for decorating affluent women ."

Some of the many people who say NO to fur:
Brigitte Bardot, Kim Basinger, Belinda Carlisle, Jamie Lee Curtis, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, k.d.lang, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Martin, Paul McCartney, Dudley Moore, Olivia Newton-John, Ringo Starr, Sting.

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