Myths and Facts

FUR IS RED:  Myths and facts about the fur industry.

The fur industry wants you to believe that fur is an environmentally friendly product.  According to the industry, fur is natural, renewable, sustainable, energy efficient, recyclable, organic and biodegradable.  If all that sounds too good to be true, there's a good reason:  it is too good to be true. In fact, fur is as far from environmentally friendly as any product can be.  Let's see the fur industry's claims:

Myth:

The fur industry claims that fur is environmentally friendly to the earth, water resources and the air we breath.

Fact:

The improper handling of waste by the fur industry causes significant water contamination.   Nitrates, phosphates and other environmentally dangerous chemicals run off with rain water or seep into aquifers and pollute water supplies.  And how the fur industry responded to this problem? The fur industry has lobbied governments in the Great Lakes area (USA & Canada) to maintain low water-quality standards so that fur farms won’t be identified as major polluters.  

Despite that, in December of 1999, the Washington State (USA) Department of Ecology fined one mink farmer $24,000 for polluting ditches that drain into a local creek.

But water isn't the only natural resource under attack by the fur industry. The earth itself is also under attack. That's why the U.S.A.'s Environmental Protection Agency has filed complaints against companies involved in fur production and transportation for illegally generating and disposing of hazardous waste from the processing of pelts.

Raising animals for their fur also pollutes the air. In Denmark, where more than 2 million minks are killed each year for their fur, more than 8,000 pounds of ammonia are released into the atmosphere each year. (1)

Myth:

The fur industry claims that the main substances used to process fur pelts are table salt, water, alum salts, soda ash, sawdust, cornstarch, lanolin and other natural ingredients.

Fact:

Among the substances used to prepare fur are harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and other bleaching agents.  In addition, acids are used to activate the tanning process. Harsh chemical dyes are also used. Many of these toxic substances wind up in our environment.

Myth:

The fur industry claims that the processing and dyeing of fur is carefully regulated to protect the environment.

Fact:

Many countries where fur is produced, like China, either do not have effective laws to protect the environment from harsh chemicals or just don't enforce them.

Myth:

The fur industry claims that fur is a natural, renewable and sustainable resource.  According to the industry, it does not deplete endangered wildlife populations or damage the natural habitats that sustain them.

Fact:

Trapping significant numbers of any species alters the balance of nature and causes unnatural increases and decreases in the populations of other animal species that normally live in a balance with fur bearing animals. Since fur traps are nonspecific and will trap and maim or kill any animal unlucky enough to walk into them, many non-targeted animals, including endangered species (2) and family pets such as dogs and cats, are caught and killed fur in traps every year.

Myth:

The fur industry wants you to believe that old fur coats can be “recycled” to make bags, pillows, throws or other home accessories.

Fact:

When is the last time you heard of someone actually doing this?  In fact, old fur dries out and deteriorates. It is not recycled because it cannot be recycled.

Myth:

The fur industry claims that real fur is organic and biodegradable.

Fact:

The formaldehyde, dyes and acids used to process fur are neither organic nor biodegradable. They are simply environmental poisons.  But the industry's fraud does not stop there.  Cat and dog fur from China and other countries is frequently mislabeled and sold as "faux fur."

Myth:

Fur production is energy efficient.

Fact:

Fur production requires transporting animals and their feed; removing animals’ waste; providing electricity for housing animals and the slaughter process; the use of pesticides, vaccines, and antibiotics; transporting carcasses; transporting pelts to auction; transporting them to a fur tannery (which involves sorting, soaking, fleshing, tanning, wringing, drying, cleaning, trimming, buffing, and finishing); and transporting tanned pelts to garment makers, wholesalers and retailers. When all these processes are taken into account, a fur garment takes far more energy to produce than a faux-fur or natural cloth garment.

And let's not forget:

There's nothing natural and beautiful about cruelty.

Animals caught in traps are left for days or longer in extraordinary pain and sometimes chew off their own paws to try to escape their agony. Those animals can include dogs and cats trapped by accident.

Animals raised on fur farms are housed in unbearably small cages and suffer their entire lives from fear, stress, disease, parasites and other physical and psychological hardships. When the industry is finally ready to take their fur, the animals are often killed by electrocution, gassing, poisoning or other methods that will preserve the quality of the pelts regardless of the pain and suffering inflicted on the animals. Some animals are even skinned alive so that their furs are not damaged when they are violently taken.

References:

Fur is not green.pdf (1) Steen Glydenkæne and Mette Hjorth Mikkelsen, “Projection of the Ammonia Emission From Denmark From 2005 Until 2025,” Research Notes From NERI, No.239 2007, 23-9.

(2) Animal Issues, Animal Protection Institute, Winter 2007