There have been investigations exposing fur farms in Finland, France, and other countries, but there are also still fur farms in the United States. Despite the progressive efforts of states like California to ban fur trapping, the nation still allows fur farms.
According to Four Paws, “The U.S. is the fifth largest mink farming country in the world. Of the roughly 400 fur farms in the U.S., around 275 of them are mink farms and they can be found in at least 23 states.”
Unlike leather which is usually a by-product of the meat industry(and still cruel!), fur is gathered by either trapping the animals for fashion or breeding and raising them on a farm in terrible conditions (similar to the factory farms where cows are killed before their skin goes to the leather industry).
On fur farms, animals like mink and foxes, are kept in wire cages surrounded by feces and forced to move around mutilated or dead carcasses.
They are electrocuted and gassed to death. While in captivity, they also display abnormal behavior that is stereotypical of mental distress, such as pacing, circling, and self-mutilating.
Many countries including Austria, Bosnia, Belgium, and more have banned fur farming while others like Denmark and Japan are phasing it out. The United States needs to follow suit.
As this petition states, “The fur industry is a threat to our environment and wildlife, contributing to higher energy costs, pollution, land destruction, and reductions in populations of wild animals, including endangered and threatened species who may be accidentally trapped and killed.”
Sign this petition calling for an end to fur farms in the United States.
Lead Image Source : Nicolai Dybdal/Shutterstock
This article was first published by OneGreenPlanet on 15 May 2020.
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