Love Animal, Love Fashion
Kenneth Michael

Kenneth@excapethematrix.com

Chances are those boots, coat, purse, and/or cashmere sweater that you dawn were suffocated, poisoned, gassed, electrocuted, bludgeoned, or skinned alive. The use of animal’s skins and fur has become essential to the fashion industry, without realizing the cruel handling and treatment practices performed. Often seen as a sign of luxury, glamour, and warmth on the runway, leather and fur have become the main fixtures in the winter collection of many high profile designers. While the continuous images of designer garments show that certain designers condone the use of animals, other high profiles designers condemn it.

The fur on garments is largely distributed through the existence of fur farms, which are farms where animals are breed and raised for their fur. There are a total of 44 states that house fur farms in the United States and over a hundred more throughout the world. With a large existence of fur farms, not a single U.S. law governs the killing of animals of fur farms and federal agency regulates or inspects them. Animals on many fur farms are treated inhumanly and suffer gruesome treatment and killing practices. The living conditions of these animals consist of compact wire cages shared by three or fours others animals and greatly overcrowded. While forced to live in unsanitary conditions, food and medical treatment are scare to some animals which force many to cannibalize their cage mates.

“Not a single U.S. law governs the killing of animals of fur farms and federal agency regulates or inspects them.”

The confinement to cages causes animals of fur farms to pace franticly around their cages becoming frustrated and sometimes driving them to go insane.

While the living conditions are inhuman, the execution process is unbearable and shocking to witness. In the fur trade industry, it is reported that if animals are mishandled improperly that the damage would show on their coats making their invaluable. The best ethical way to execute animals for their skin is through injection, but over the years other methods have been applied. These methods have included bone breaking of the neck, which is done throughout Canada and the United States. Even the injections phrase has changed, doses of injections now include a mixture of rubbing alcohol and pesticide to kill the animal.

One-third of all furs sold in the U.S. come from animals killed in traps, a practice legal in all but six states. Animals caught in these traps are usually found dead upon discovery.

Slaughterhouses which distribute most of the world’s leather products are known for their unethical treatment practices on animals. Cows in slaughter houses are tortured with rubbing chili powder and tobacco application inside the eye keeping them from falling down.

“One-third of all furs sold in the U.S. come from animals killed in traps, a practice legal in all but six states.”

While cruelty treatment towards animals goes without regulations or protection, one organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is fighting to enforce laws on the handling practices of animals. PETA condemns the use of any type of harm done to animals whether it is ethical or unethical. They have developed campaigns around stopping the use of animals in the fashion industry, with there “I’d rather go naked, than wear fur” campaigns. PETA has also gotten many high profile fashion designers to abandon the use of animal skins and fur from their collections including Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, and Marc Bower.

Work Cited:
 

www.peta.org/media
www.peta.org/
http://www.kitmeout.com/img_assets/rocawear_blog.jpg
http://girldir.com/files/images/faux-fur-short-coat.jpg