Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Davidfak]

• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 08:59:28 PM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 07:52:26 PM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 01:37:16 PM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [Yesterday at 12:26:58 AM]
• cp loli by BobbyNof
  [May 06, 2024, 02:51:48 AM]
• <a href="https://www.port... by Davidfak
  [May 06, 2024, 02:47:41 AM]

Members

• Total Members: 4950
• Latest: Alexistig

Stats

• Total Posts: 129618
• Total Topics: 7184
• Online Today: 129
• Online Ever: 1013
• (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

[12AX7]

What do you think of the fur industry? I have somewhat mixed feelings about it.

 For some reason, I see it as different to raise animals for slaughter for food and then use all the leftover

parts for some product; than it is to raise animals solely for a chunk of their skin - the rest just discarded;

and taking so many chunks (animals) to create one product. I'm not sure what it is, but something just

doesn't seem right about that. I have no issues with how we manage other beasts; cattle, sheep, chickens,

pigs, etc.  Maybe it's the waste. It just seems a shame to waste so many lives for a coat that's not really

necessary. In addition; as I understand it, nothing else from the "pelt" animals is used. Just the strip of

hide. I mean...c'mon. If you can kill it to wear it; you could at least eat the rest of it.

 So. . . how far out of touch am I? 

[Vespertine]

I have mixed feelings about this too.  I have a family heirloom type mink stole (it was me great-grandmother's).  I wear it once in a blue moon, when I need to be super dressed up during the cooler months.

I agree with you about the wastefulness (and cruelty) of the fur industry.  I can also say that there are a few absolutely gorgeous fur coats out there.  If I acutally had the money to spend on one, it would be a bigger conflict.  If I'm being honest, I don't know which way I would go.

[12AX7]

I can also say that there are a few absolutely gorgeous fur coats out there.  If I acutally had the money to spend on one, it would be a bigger conflict.

I hear ya.

 My issue isn't really the people who wear or even the products; we wear animals all the time.

It's with the "industry", I guess; it just seems that by all the waste that that somehow

disrespects life - if that makes sense. If it was a trapper who went out and set his traps and

caught a ton of beaver or mink or whatever, I wouldn't bat an eye. But if I knew it came from

animals farmed for fur, I don't think I could would buy one. Same principle I have about

purchasing animals from an pet store or 'puppy mill' -type breeder.

 ("PLEASE don't make more of em; there's already PLENTY to go around and PLENTY with no

homes.")

 That being said; if I saw you in your fur, you'd only get compliments from me; no red paint,

 lol. 

[The Kid]

I think that killing an animal for food is in human nature, but yes, killing an animal primarily for fur is abuse. Animals are nice, but we are smarter. In an us-or-them situation, with the help of modern technology, it will always be us. But taking lives for more than we need is abuse. Pate foi gras is abuse, and so is fur.

I condone fur that is produced from an animal that was killed for it's meat. But it is hard to find, even harder to verify as 'humane' fur, and I don't like fur anyway.

A word in Vespertine's honour though: I view second-hand animal fur/hide/skin as guilt-free because in this instance the consumer has no effect on supply-and-demand, which I think is much of the reason why the fur industry still thrives. EDIT: Crystal Monkey makes a good point on this reasoning, which is that simply wearing the fur may make it more fashionable/desirable to others who see it, therefore increasing demand. I had a lovely second-hand snake-skin wallet a couple of years ago. 

[Wunderkind]

... no red paint,

This why PETA and I don't get along. It started with red paint and $4000 coat.

...Animals are nice, but we are smarter...

Provide your proof.

Now, back on topic.
There are a handful of fur and leather providers who get their skins from a meat provider, or send the rest of the animal to a meat provider. All in all, it's cheaper for it to work this way and they can still hock their wares at top market prices. The trick is finding the companies that do this. It takes research and time, but it is plausible. A lot of the time they are small private businesses who can't afford to farm fur.

I own several nice leather coats and one deer-hide coat I wouldn't trade for the world. I own them without guilt because I know where they came from and what happened to the rest of the animal. Some people think I go through way too much trouble for a coat, but they are a good investment. A genuine leather coat will last you a hell of a lot longer than your lifetime if treated properly.

Not to mention there's nothing warmer when you're hunting. But that's a whole other animal rights arguement.

I'm still more concerned about the food industry aspect. I think we should fix the consumption errors of what goes in our body before we start worrying about what's on our body. It amazes me that people will rant and rave over a fur ("It's so cruel to raise an animal for it's fur!") and then go eat a chicken breast off a chicken that was kept cooped up in a tiny cell it's whole life, transported in an open air container in below freezing winter weather, thrown in some water with an electrical current running through it and hung up... sometimes still alive. But no... we're more worried about the fur.

 
/rant

EDIT: In summary, you can have my leathers and furs when you pry them from my cold dead fingers.

[The_FOO]

+1 Wunderkind.

[xolik]

Provide your proof.

Animals aren't wearing human skins as fashion. 

[Chris]

[ydnamtnediserp]

Wonder Woman, on the case
Lynda Carter was boating on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. when she spotted a body floating in the water. The actress, best known for her portrayal of the bracelet-wearing crime fighter Wonder Woman, says she "did what anybody would have done" when she called for help and stayed near the corpse until rescuers arrived. Her civic-minded actions earned her high points in Buzz, boosting searches on her name more than 1,670% and propelling articles on the tale upwards.

[The_FOO]

Negative Wonder Woman FTW!

[Crystalmonkey]

in this instance the consumer has no effect on supply-and-demand

Technically speaking wearing the furs increases how "fashionable/desirable" it is to wear furs, contributing to the system.

[12AX7]

I think I thought of a way to express why I see it differently. The fur INDUSTRY (not ye ole Trapper, or people who wear them either out of necessity(its fucking COLD there) or who are aware that that beautiful coat is basically a gift of the highest order from the animal kingdom. So-to-speak.)

 It seems that animals raised for slaughter normally become "more than" they were as one animal. A cow is going to feed many people, clothe many more. It becomes greater than just a cow.
 A mink farm, on the other hand, is different. Each animal is raised to be killed for a small strip of hide, and the rest discarded. Even that small strip of hide now is much much LESS than the animal was before. So it goes into a coat along with 459 other lives strips of hide; which will be marketed to an extremely small percentage of people for fashion; not necessity. It seems that that animal has become almost a negligible entity by now. And that is how its life is 'disrespected'.

 

[BizB]

I have no opinion on the subject.

[Wunderkind]

... Each animal is raised to be killed for a small strip of hide, and the rest discarded. Even that small strip of hide now is much much LESS than the animal was before. So it goes into a coat along with 459 other lives strips of hide; which will be marketed to an extremely small percentage of people for fashion; not necessity. It seems that that animal has become almost a negligible entity by now. And that is how its life is 'disrespected'.

I think this is cultural feeling, 12. I think this because this is how I was raised to see it. If the animal died to make a coat and nothing but a coat, it is sad, but not disrespectful. The only way to belittle the animal's death, is to disrespect the coat it died to make. But that's because we (Ojibwe) see the animal as being represented in the coat. Wearing it is a sign of honoring the animal that gave it's life.

No, I don't the industry is hunky dory. I'm just saying, I think this might be a perspective thing.

[Demosthenes]

I have no opinion on the subject.

I have no response to this post.

[The Kid]

Technically speaking wearing the furs increases how "fashionable/desirable" it is to wear furs, contributing to the system.

Crystal Monkey, you make a good point.

[Jaepheth]

Technically speaking wearing the furs increases how "fashionable/desirable" it is to wear furs, contributing to the system.

Not wearing the fur increases how exclusive/desirable it is to wear furs, also contributing to the system.

I will say I don't approve of skinning animals alive, even if the adrenaline does make the meat taste sweeter (I don't know if it does, but I think that's usually why it's done).

In high school I imagined getting those balloon things plastic surgeons use to grow extra skin before a surgery, paying a bunch of people to use them, and then get myself a human-skin leather jacket with 99.997% less murder.

If stem cell research takes off, maybe we can grow whole fur coats in a big vat of nutrients.

[Wunderkind]

I will say I don't approve of skinning animals alive, even if the adrenaline does make the meat taste sweeter (I don't know if it does, but I think that's usually why it's done).

Uh... I think the only benefit you get from adrenaline is if it's your own. I can't see how it would make a difference since you can't actually taste hormones. Consider the fact I've never tried it though. Hey, maybe I can test the theory with the screaming kid in 914. I hear eight-year-olds are very tender. I'll let you have the skin, Jaepheth, I'm sure it'll be top quality for that jacket. 

[The_FOO]

If stem cell research takes off, maybe we can grow whole fur coats in a big vat of nutrients.

You don't actually need stems cells to grow fur like that. Standard culturing and nutrient bath techniques work quite well for things like growing more skin/fur. That being said, it's also more expensive to maintain those conditions to grow acceptably large portions of fur that way.

Until it costs more to raise and discard a whole animal I don't see much change in the fur industry.

[livingeek]

I don't really have an opinion on this subject.  I can see right and wrong in both sides of the argument.  I'm more concerned with the f'd up things humans do to other humans.  That really creeps me out.  As far as animals out of site out of mind I guess. 

[BizB]

I don't really have an opinion on this subject.  I can see right and wrong in both sides of the argument.  I'm more concerned with the f'd up things humans do to other humans.  That really creeps me out.  As far as animals out of site out of mind I guess. 

I have no response to this.

[Joe Sixpack]

I admire your taking a stand against the practice of harvesting humans for their skin.

[12AX7]

skin

[Jaepheth]

I admire your taking a stand against the practice of harvesting humans for their skin.

Why? What would you prefer they be harvested for?

[Chris]

I don't really have an opinion on this subject.  I can see right and wrong in both sides of the argument.  I'm more concerned with the f'd up things humans do to other humans.  That really creeps me out.  As far as animals out of site out of mind I guess. 

There are no animals contained anywhere on this site. You have nothing to worry about.