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My Love/Hate of Fur
Thirty Christmases ago, exactly, my about-to-be-second husband gave me a fur coat.
A beautiful dark ranch mink, with a detachable hood.
It made me feel like Julie Christie's Lara in Dr. Zhivago.
Before you start pelting me with tomatoes, understand that, in 1979, there was no PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals); nobody talked about "animal rights,'' although Canada had already come under international fire for the clubbing of baby seals; and, as a flip through an old Vogue will reveal, fur was in fashion, with women (even men) wearing chubby coats, the kind now associated with pimps and hookers.
For Montrealers, fur was de rigueur, a necessary bulwark against the killing cold.
What's more, in my hometown, the fur industry, which built Canada - for better or worse, depending whether you were a beaver, an aboriginal or the Hudson's Bay Company - and employed thousands. There was even "the fur district," with lofty old factory buildings filled with giant sewing machines. In the streets below, men would scurry with racks loaded with skins or finished coats.
That area is dead now and, like Creed's in Toronto, most of the companies are gone.
But still, according to the Fur Institute of Canada, the industry contributes $800 million to our GDP and employs 60,000 trappers (including 25,000 aboriginals), with another 5,000 in farming, manufacturing and sales.
That's about half what it used to be, if memory of reporting on the business back then serves.
Which is why, that Christmas, there was nothing unusual about such an extravagant gift.
I did choose carefully. Although fox was the style, I just could not bear the thought of wearing something that looked like my dog, or that had been caught in a leg-hold trap. And I had been scarred as a child by my mother's fox stole, with its beady glass eyes and claws.
I opted for mink because, as a farmed animal, my conceit was that its treatment could be no worse than other livestock, as those of us who have read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma or Jonathan Safran Foer's just-published Eating Animals know.
I still feel that way, although no way would I now accept a fur coat. (Just this week, Born Free USA came out with yet another indictment of fur farming practices, in both the U.S. and Canada.) I'm not even keen on down-fill since that, too, is also cruelly obtained.
The truth is, we are blind - we choose to be so - about how we're making bacon.
A few years ago, on a blistering hot Labour Day, I sat on the side of the Lake Shore at the Ex to catch the air show. But, instead, all I could do was watch the non-stop parade of 18-wheelers rolling by, packed with squealing, suffocating pigs on their way to slaughter.
Now, for all our talk of wanting to live green lives, and of upping the insulation while lowering the thermostat, we studiously ignore how the consumption of animals is destroying our planet.
As Scientific American reported in February, "(P)roducing half a pound of hamburger for someone's lunch, a patty of meat the size of two decks of cards releases as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as driving a 3,000-pound car nearly 10 miles."
That doesn't count the idling at the drive-thru.
As for my coat, it looks exactly as it did the day I first twirled in it. It should. I've spent thousands to clean it, insure it and store it.
It's vintage now. Those poor minks long gone.
So please, if you see me in it, hold off on the spray paint.
I'm on your side.
21 Comments so far
Show AllYes, indeed. Do hold off on the spray paint and the rotten tomatoes!
Premise: those of us who live in cold climates have to make choices about what to wear in winter, rather than move to the tropics. Think about the balance sheet.
Fur: Farmed animals, well fed, treated humanely, then killed on site. Should be by lethal injection, but unfortunately it's done by painful electric shock through the rectum -- dead in seconds, but it still entails killing living creatures.
A fur coat lasts through at least two generations of owners. My old sheared lamb lasted 20 years and was given away because it had become degraded through wet and heat, but my mother's sheared lamb and her mink are still fine - I just don't dare wear them.
Stay away from anything that looks like cat fur. The Chinese and other suppiers boil cats alive.
Non-fur:
a) layers of cotton. Where is the cotton grown? How much is it destroying the environment? (Evidence shows it's one of the more harmful crops.) Even assuming organic cotton - how many people can afford it? And it's not as durable as fur.
b) synthetics. The main product being used in parkas, down jackets and coats (yes, the cruel and inhumane extraction of down - a whole other issue).
- manufacturing generates pollution, often dumped in ground and water in 3rd world countries. Long-term damage to the drinking water, farmland, and all living species cannot be calculated.
- the process exposes workers to carcinogens - liver cancer is especially rampant among textile workers and producers of petroleum-based products.
- the coats and jackets are hard to mend when they tear. Most end up in landfills, further adding to the deadly pollution by man-made toxic fabrics.
You do the math. A sheepskin coat and hat or a mink coat don't look so terrible after all.
Yes, do the math. Watch youtube videos of Chinese fur farms, and the skinning while the animal is still alive.
Yes, do the math. Consider the impact of the animal factory industry on climate change.
Yes, do the math. Synthetic insulation is now mostly made from recycled plastics, reducing land fill.
Yes, do the math. Cared-for synthetic jackets and coats will last for generations were it not for consumerism that treats all objects as consumables to be thrown away after 1 season.
It is 4 degrees F outside, so I consider myself living in a cooler climate. My 1960s USAF Arctic jacket has no peer for warmth or wind-shedding capability. Its a nice day, I think I'll take the dogs for a walk.
One rabbit fur hat has kept my head warm for the last 15 years. Longest I've ever had a hat... Rabbits are vermin, I don't care how it was killed.
No one's ever made a nasty comment about it, even if the thing does look dorky. It's -30C, what is warm is fashionable. As far at the synthetic fabrics go, I hate them but the jacket is synthetic with down...
"So please, if you see me in it, hold off on the spray paint.
I'm on your side".
Antonia,
Have you considered donating the fur coat to a wildlife center to warm orphaned animals?
If you are really on the side of the animals, you would NOT wear that coat.
Wearing fur sends a message that it is okay.
It is NOT okay.
Donate the coat!
Drop the fur coat and go for a hemp jacket that's great all year round.
I won't pelt you with eggs Antonia, but I am perturbed that you would wear that fur coat yet chastise people for eating meat.
I think the anti-fur anti-meat crowd do more to alienate potential green voters than anything else. I consider myself a greenie but will never give up meat and as I was brought up in the bush, the idea of shooting feral animals makes great sense and if we can use them for fur or meat all the better.
You are not green if you eat meat.
2500 gallons of water produce 1 lb. of beef.
98% of soy crops and 756 million tons of grain and corn per year are fed to farmed animals.
Per UN and Pew studies, 40% more climate change than all transport combined is emitted from factory farms (comprising over 99% of meat, egg and dairy supply).
Real Environmentalists do not eat meat.
With a name like "koalaburger", I am sure you would enjoy shooting the last individual of a species, and celebrate it's demise over a barbie.
"Greenie", indeed.
My mother always told me that buying vintage/second-hand coats was perfectly ethical, as one was (1.) recycling the fur, thus extending its use/lifetime and preventing the waste of more resources on the manufacture of a new coat, and (2.) not participating in the killing of more animals. She was from the far north, so furs were a necessity in her childhood, to protect against the cold. Personally, I prefer wool, which is hopefully humanely harvested (though I've heard horror stories about sheep shearing). It's less expensive and more durable, anyway. Furs have to be maintained and, like any skin (as the fur is still attached to the animal hide), will go through a rotting process that causes them to deteriorate, no matter how well they are maintained.
Although I am definitely against cruelty to any animals, anywhere, it is an inescapable fact that many humans still survive on meat and other products from animals, especially people who may live off the land more than urban folks. That we have got to make farming of all animals more humane is a no-brainer. However, I don't think that it is possible for mankind to exist without some slaughter of animals. It's a total shame that many of the old rituals that made animal killing more of a sacred act are no longer practiced - these rituals probably made people more appreciative of the ultimate sacrifice that the animal was forced to make for those who would later eat it.
I like the idea of reusing and recycling. That is exactly how the Natives survived before the settlers killed their way of life.
I'm a vegetarian but I respect your thoughts on eating meat. I used to eat meat but when I switched to eating lentils especially the various Indian ones my wife provided, I eventually learned the benefits of plant based protein over animal based. That said, I don't see myself going back to eating meat, not even "cruelty free" based. I don't miss it. I don't tell people not to eat meat but I ask that they try meat and lentils and figure out which is better in the long run. Usually, lentils win. I would also recommend trying some hemp and flax seeds cereal for breakfast. That sure beats eating meat in the morning.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
If you are "definitely against cruelty to any animals", you would NOT eat them.
99% of meat, dairy and eggs are from factory farms in the U.S.
If you really want to "make farming of all animals more humane", you will eliminate meat from your diet.
It is NOT an "inescapable fact" that humans must "survive" on meat.
We are not obligate carnivores, do not have the intestines or teeth that carnivores have for tearing flesh and digesting meat.
It takes an average of 72 hours for humans to digest meat.
If you really care about cruelty to animals, try reducing your meat consumption and substitute with healthier proteins.
Here are some other good factoids to have in your kit:
Man and the chimpanzee have a common ancestor. Chimps are better adapted to eating meat that man (based on teeth and intestines). Yet chimps on average consume no more than a pea-sized piece of meat per day. Usually the meat comes from other apes - yes, they are cannibals.
Dogs (whom meat eaters love to side with) digest meat and pass it within 14 hours.
Actually, I don't really eat meat on a daily basis. I usually eat meat, if at all, at "ethnic" celebrations. You can't escape the fact that so many indigenous cultures worldwide eat meat and use animal products to survive. Humans evolved by eating meat, using hides for clothing and shelter, etc. And, many humans still do. It is a luxury for many of us that we can choose to leave meat out of our diets.
There is no way to justify animal cruelty.
When I was 19, my GF at the time got me into a slaughterhouse. What I saw then still haunts me today, 32 years later. There is a reason why abattoirs do not have windows.
Watch any of the youtube videos of animals being butchered before they are dead. This is standard practice at slaughterhouses.
Go vegan and save the world.
For anyone who kills animals for their pelt, you should be aware that as a natural protection, animals "release" large amounts of fur when under stress. Its how they get loose in the wild if another animal is biting them. Unless an animal is killed quickly and painlessly, the pelt will be poor quality anyway.
We are a wretched species all around- much of humanity just barely out of the cradle when it comes to empathy and compassion. Others talk about it, but do nothing to stop a military that causes untold suffering to others including children. If you are concerned about suffering, change your life. Stop paying your taxes. Stop buying crap from manufacturers who have no accountability. Downsize, powerdown, simplify.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091220/sc_afp/lifestyleclimatewarminganimalsfood
Now dogs are polluters?
I've gone around with people about this on CD; you can't get away from consumption.
We can all stop eating meat, which is going to require a massive education process or else people will be living off of potato chips and candy, given there's no backlash, and ride bikes and walk everywhere, and it's still not going to stop global warming. It may slow it down, but what we need to do is not only halt it, but repair it.
And can everyone not eat meat? Can everyone walk and bike to where they need to go?
Isn't this like telling people to stop having sex in order to prevent STD's and unwanted pregnancies?
Oh wait! The environmentalists don't want people having kids either!
You're made to feel as if no matter where you step, you're breaking something.
Is this a practical outlook, or does it just give each of us a complex and create a greener-than-thou subculture?
As I've said before, this is all akin to a doctor merely scolding a person with cancer for smoking. Earth needs emergency treatment.
"When I was 19, my GF at the time got me into a slaughterhouse. What I saw then still haunts me today, 32 years later. There is a reason why abattoirs do not have windows.
Watch any of the youtube videos of animals being butchered before they are dead. This is standard practice at slaughterhouses."
How did Native Americans stomach it then? Bushmen? Frontiersmen? Fishermen?
I do think people eat too much meat, but if the average person merely cuts meat and dairy from their diet, they're going to have problems unless they have some guidance.
I don't fault vegetarians and vegans. I just don't know if it is practical for everyone and will make that much of an impact.
double post.