Trapping
10 million animals are trapped for their fur each year. The United States, Canada, and Russia account for most of the world’s wild fur production.
Approximately two non-target animals are caught for every one furbearing animal. These non-target animals include squirrels, opossums, dogs, cats, and even endangered species and birds of prey that are attracted to baited sets.
The steel jaw leghold trap is the most common trap used by the fur industry, followed by the wire snare, and the Conibear body gripping trap which crushes the animal.
88 countries and 5 states have banned the leghold trap because of its inherent cruelty and because it is non-selective and traps whatever animal steps into it.
Congress has failed to pass anti leghold trap legislation, despite public opinion surveys showing that 74% of Americans oppose this device. These polls are verified by the fact that when given a chance, voters in CO, MA, and AZ voted to ban trapping.
Animals are left in these traps from anywhere from 1 to 3 days, and sometimes longer. Many times these animals will die from starvation, hypothermia, dehydration, or predation by another animal. Otherwise the trapper will shoot them, stomp them, or club them.
Many animals chew off their own limbs in desperate attempts at escape. This is especially common with raccoons. A 1980 study found that as many as 1 out of every 4 raccoons caught in a leghold trap would chew his/her foot off to escape.
Some companies manufacture padded leghold traps for “cosmetic” purposes. These padded traps still have to slam shut with enough force to restrain a fighting mad wild animal. Animals caught in padded traps are still exposed to the elements and predators until the trapper returns to kill them. A study has shown that padded traps cause injury to 97% of the coyotes that they ensnare.
Many animals knock out their teeth as they bite at the jaws of the traps. In Sweden a study was conducted where 645 foxes were caught in leghold traps. 514 of the foxes were considered seriously injured, and 200 of them had knocked out teeth as they bit at the trap.
There are 150,000 trappers in the United States. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan are the leading trapping states.
Fur Farming
Thirty-one million animals are raised and killed on fur farms each year. Mink account for 26 million, fox 4.1 million. Chinchillas, raccoon dogs (not to be confused with the North American raccoon), fitch and sable make up for most of the other ranch raised furbearers.
Mink are usually killed by gassing, neck breaking or poison injection. Most foxes are killed by anal electrocution, while chinchilla breeders recommend either neck breaking or genital electrocution.
Mink and fox are genetically wild animals that are not adapted to a life in captivity. Whereas a wild mink would range a territory that is approximately 3 square kilometers in size, a ranch raised mink is confined to a cage that is 12 inches wide by 18 inches long.
The intensive confinement leads to self mutilation, cannibalism, and a high level stress which breaks down the animals immune systems.
Approximately 17% of ranch raised mink, and 20% of ranch foxes die prematurely as a result of these factors.
There are 415 mink farms in the US, which account for 10% of world production.
Scandinavian countries account for 80% of world fox production and 54% of world mink production.
Wisconsin, Utah and Minnesota are the leading mink producing states in the U.S.
Fur farmers have used inbreeding to develop mutant color phases in fur animals. This has led to genetic defects including white mink that are deaf and pastel mink with nervous disorders.
Many fur farms will feed the corpses of the skinned animals back to the live animals to save on feed costs. This sort of forced cannibalism was banned in the cattle industry because it was believed to cause Mad Cow disease.
Ferrets are raised on fur farms in Europe. Their skins are marketed as fitch fur. Studies show that as many as 2/3 of the ferrets on fur farms come down with disease as a result of the poor living conditions.
U.S. Fur Trade Economy
Fur imports into the US declined 8.9% in 1997. Imports account for 60% of US retail sales.
The fur industry claims that their annual sales are at $1.27 billion. This figure includes revenue from fur storage, cleaning, and repair, as well as from the sale of fur trim, leather, and shearling. Actual fur sales are much lower, probably at about $700 million.
51% of all US fur sales take place in the Northeast, followed by 25% in the Midwest.
(Source: Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
Myth of a Fur Industry Comeback
“The late 1970s and the early 1980s were certainly the glory days of the modern fur trade. Since the 1987 market crash, it has often been difficult to find a willing fur buyer regardless of how low the prevailing prices.”
—The Trapper and Predator Caller, September 2002
“Even deep-discount clearance sales failed to lure consumers into major department stores.”
—The Trapper and Predator Caller, June-July, 2002
“This past season was not bountiful, for anyone anywhere.”
—Fur World, June 3, 2002
“The 1987 stock-market crash and the resultant recession hit the fur trade particularly hard—especially among Asian markets, which were major importers of American fur. The pelt market bottomed and has yet to recover fully. Today, trapping is a nearly forgotten craft and is often viewed negatively by society because of the work of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and The Humane Society of the United States.”
— The Omaha World-Herald, May 5, 2002
“Domestic retail fur sales did not come close to reaching projected levels.”
— The Trapper and Predator Caller, April-May 2002
“As of last year, the city had only 81 fur companies employing 450 workers, according to the State Department of Labor, down from about 450 companies and 2,254 workers in 1987.”
— The New York Times, January 30, 2002
“Decades-old fur industry directories reveal that in 1972, there were 797 established fur garment makers in the United States, most located in New York. Twenty years later, in 1992, the number of fur makers [had] dwindled to only 211. Today, numbers of garment makers are rapidly decreasing as this older generation of skilled craftsmen retire. Few young people are interested in devoting the years of apprenticeship necessary to master a craft with an obviously diminishing consumer base.”
— Trapper & Predator Caller, September 2001
“Unfortunately, many of the old-line independent retail furriers have been operating for several years with dramatically reduced inventories. After a decade of lackluster sales, it is certainly understandable why these furriers would continue to reduce inventories and pare back selections.”
— The Trapper and Predator Caller, March 2001
“The prices for fur do fluctuate somewhat, but in the last 15 years they haven‚Äôt climbed high enough to start up a serious trap line again.”
— Hunting Net Message Board at www.huntingbbs.com, November 14, 2000
“The Agriculture Department‚Äôs statistics service says mink production in the U.S. fell 4 percent, to 2.81 million pelts. ‚ÄòThe number of farms is going down quite rapidly,‚Äô says Tom Kruchten, an Agriculture statistician. There are about 400 mink farms in the U.S., [fewer] than half as many as a decade ago.”
— Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2000
Source: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510 Phone: (757) 622-PETA Web: http://furisdead.com