Argument Against Fur Coat

Words: 1479
Pages: 6

While sitting next to my grandmother in church during Sunday service long ago, I remember two things: the strawberry candies in her purse and the feel of her fur coat. Back then, I didn’t make the connection between a fur coat and any animal harm; I only knew what I was exposed to, and that was the fur trend among many older women. I understood that fur coats went hand in hand with a position of class. As someone keeping up with the movements in the fashion industry, I am aware of the lavish look of furs with suede thigh-high boots that are walking the runways of this year’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. Depending on whom you ask, wearing a fur coat does not make a positive statement, rather it portrays the attitude, ‘I do not …show more content…
Fur farmers’ pack animals into terribly small cages, preventing them from taking moving around naturally or doing any necessary activities such as running, making nests, and finding mates. Many animals go insane under these conditions, and the distress and frustration of cage life leads many animals to self-harm, biting at their skin, tail, and feet; pacing in circles endlessly, and even cannibalizing their cage mates. “Rows of cages are often housed in dark, filthy sheds or barns where the ammonia from the animals’ accumulated urine and feces burns their eyes and lungs, or they may simply be lined up outdoors, where animals have no protection from bone-chilling cold, driving rain, or sweltering heat.” (The Fur Industry) Unfortunately, “no federal humane slaughter law protects animals on fur factory farms, in effect, killing methods are gruesome.”(The Fur Industry) They slaughter methods used keep the pelts intact in order to preserve the fur, but this increases the suffering of the animals. Some animals even wake up while they are being skinned, but again are painfully electrocuted with rods in their mouths or anuses. Producing a fur coat is a very extensive process that comes at the price of tormenting these helpless creatures. Often it takes dozens of animals to make one garment; simply put, the amount of animal lives taken to make a human life satisfied is not justifiable. Killing them can lead to the endangerment and extinction of animals such as foxes, chinchillas, and minxes. Overall, acquiring fur with the use of traps and fur farms is detrimental rather than beneficial to the animals and the environment, and individuals against the use of fur are not afraid to share their knowledge to help others comprehend their