Is it really ok to wear vintage fur?

So – is it really acceptable to buy and wear fur just because it’s vintage or belonged to your grandma?
I believe that wearing real fur is unacceptable. I can’t conceive of any situation where it would be right to kill an animal purely so that you can look fashionable wearing its skin. By buying vintage fur, you are perpetuating the trend that wearing fur is acceptable and supporting the current fur industry.  Just because the animal died years ago does not mean that it did not suffer a painful death. Although historically, the fur trade played a role in the development of the early economies, tradition never justifies abuse. There are many cultural practices once seen as acceptable that are now viewed as horrific relics of a more brutal time.

 
Every year, more than 50 million animals are violently killed for use in fashion. Eighty-five percent of the fur industry’s skins come from animals on fur farms—dismal, often filthy places where thousands of animals are usually kept in wire cages for their entire lives.

To cut costs, fur farmers pack animals into unbearably small cages, preventing them from taking more than a few steps in any direction or doing anything that is natural and important to them, such as running, swimming, making nests, and finding mates. Many animals go insane under these conditions. The anguish and frustration of life in a cage leads many animals to self-mutilate, biting at their skin, tail, and feet; frantically pace and circle endlessly; and even cannibalize their cage mates.

In China – where there are no animal welfare laws, approximately 2 million dogs and cats are bred or taken from the street and killed each year for their fur.  Australia has banned the import of dog and cat fur, but international investigations show that Chinese dog and cat fur is frequently mislabelled (as fox, rabbit or mink fur). Even accessories, trinkets and children toys have been found decorated with dog and cat fur.

The list of animals suffering for fur production is long. Mink, foxes and rabbits are the most frequently bred, but also squirrels, badgers, possums, racoons, beavers, lynxes, coyotes, seals, otters, bears, chinchillas, martens, bobcats, dogs and cats are killed for their fur. The number of animals that need to die for one fur coat varies from 30 – 40 for rabbits to 30 – 70 for Minxes. Even for fur trim, mass production of these items equates to huge numbers of animals who suffer and die unnecessarily.


Remember – fur is only beautiful on its original owner

 
Thanks to; www.peta.org, www.animalsaustralia.org, www.weheartvintage.com, www.bornfreeusa.org

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