The Issue of Animal Fur

張貼日期：Apr 20, 2011 9:6:37 AM

William Chang

We all have seen the Disney cartoon—One Hundred and One Dalmatians. One of the well-known plots is that the villain, Cruella, kidnaps the Dalmatian puppies for their fur. Back to the real world, many people have seriously argued about this controversial issue—should people wear animal fur? Is it appropriate to kill a life just because of its skin and fur? For many years, the activists of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have been making a lot of efforts on anti-fur movements. From the side video, about a fashion show of Dior, we can see one of the PETA protesters tries to disrupt the fashion show, and she later gets pushed by the young model and gets dragged by the securities. At first, I had the same feelings with these PETA activists. But after reading some articles about how people get animal fur now, I totally changed my mind based on the following three reasons.

First, the action of taking fur from an animal is not illegal. Some people may consider that wearing animal fur will jeopardize an endangered species, but it is not true. People can get animals’ fur by breeding them in a fur farm just like breeding pigs for their meat. For example, they can set up a wolf fur farm or a fox fur farm. Therefore, taking fur from those animals that are not endangered is not illegal and will not destroy the ecological system.

The second reason is that animal fur is the warmest material of clothing. In clothing, fur is leather with the hair retained for its properties. It keeps human body warm enough against the cold weather as a protection. In addition, compared with nylon and cotton, fur is the most natural material for human garment. Materials like nylon and polyester fiber are all products of petro-chemistry, which are not dissolvable even for hundreds of years. Thus, wearing animal fur is less harmful to the environment and will not cause any pollution to the world.

The final reason, wearing animal fur will increase the economic growth of a country. Fur trade plays an important economic role in the world. According to British Fur Trade Association (BFTA), the value of fur trade has reached 13 billion US dollars a year. The International Fur Trade Federation adds, “In recent years we have endeavored to address the misconception of our industry, fueled mainly by animal rights activists. Today’s fur trade operates with greater responsibility and transparency than ever before.” From this point of view, there are many advantages of fur trade to a country’s economy.

The activists of PETA claim that the action of killing an animal for its fur is inhuman and immoral. But the truth is that the technology of getting fur from animals today is more advanced than before. The main source of fur is fur farming. Hunting animals in the wild is only a minority. People should get rid of their false assumption of wearing animal fur.

In conclusion, although the issue of animal fur is still in controversy and the activists of PETA still protest outside the fashion shows, the three reasons provide solid rationale that has changed my attitude toward animal fur.