June 6th, 1998
STILL KILLING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
There is, as always, much going on in the world right now - the Indian subcontinent
nuclear arms race, the continued buildup of nuclear weapons by the United States and the
worldwide pirating of genetic diversity. But along with this grief and tragedy, an obscene
practice has been going on in the background, with no modern day justification except
vanity, greed, and the desire to show that humans have power over the creatures of the
Earth.
It is amazing to me to think that every day, in the United States alone, 10,000 minks are
added to closets and coat racks. These animals, and the millions more that are killed for
vanity and greed, whether raised on a farm or caught in a trap in the wild, suffer
unbelievable pain.
It takes an average of 40 animals to make one fur coat. Sometimes, in the case of a
full-length chinchilla coat, it may take nearly 100 animals.
I have personally known of this issue for over 25 years. It just won't go away. You don't
see the kind of media coverage over anti-fur activism these days like you did in the
1980s. Back then, it was a very popular issue for celebrities to sponsor, and they did a
good job making the idea of owning a fur something to be ashamed of. But time passes,
people move on to other issues, and the problem fades from the public spotlight. But it is
still very much with us.
Of the 10 million animals worldwide that are trapped for fur products, all die
horrible, lingering deaths. Many break off their teeth trying to free themselves from the
deadly steel jaw leghold trap and many will chew their own limbs off.
Some traps are suspended under water, to catch beaver and mink. A beaver, fighting with
the desperate pain of the trap, can linger up to 20 minutes under water before drowning in
agony. Countless birds, squirrels, opossums, and pet dogs and cats - called
"trash" animals by the industry, die and are thrown away by the trapper.
I'll always be haunted by the memory of reading the story of a New York woman who was
walking her dog when he walked into a body grip trap, two frames of metal that slam down,
breaking the back or neck. He writhed in agony for 20 minutes before he died, his owner
desperately trying to free him from the steel grips. Children are caught in them as well.  But
there is also tremendous environmental devastation - not to mention the spiritual
devastation - that comes from fur production. Look at this sobering list:
- Fur farms, like all factory farm operations, produce massive amounts of animal waste
that is consolidated into one small area. In Finland, home of 65% of the worlds fox farms,
fur animal wastes equal the untreated sewage of a million people.
- In the U.S., fur farm associations have lobbied local governments in the Great Lakes
region to keep water quality standards low.
- Trapping causes the immediate destruction of large numbers of predators, leading to an
over abundance of various prey species such as happened with the deer mice population in
New Mexico several years ago. As a result of this increase, the deer mice transmitted the
Hanta virus to over 50 people, all of whom died.
- Traps are non-selective and often catch endangered species. In 1973 a trapper with the
federal government reported that 2,500 bald and golden eagles had been caught in traps in
Nevada.
- Production of a wild caught fur requires three times more energy to produce than a
synthetic coat. A ranch-raised coat requires nearly 20 times more energy than a synthetic
one.
How can we do such things to our neighbors on this world, beings who share the
intricate web of life we occupy?
We ate no flesh in Eden, but afterwards,
when things got hard, we forgot
the peaceful kinship of that ancient kingdom.
As our teeth sank into their flesh
we had to deny them. So we said
they had no souls, no reason, no thumbs,
no speech. We were so different. We made
a chain of things to protect us - fire, medicine,
our locking houses, many kinds of clothes.
And we renamed them - farm product, fur crop,
renewable resource. Pray that we will see
their faces again in the mirror of creation,
the miracle of animals, their clear eyes
meaning more than profit to our own!
-- Jean Pearson
Please take time to invite this awareness into your heart. There is so much senseless
suffering in our world, I know. But we have to remind ourselves that those with greed as
their deity are still killing, after all these years.
RESOURCES
1. Don't shop at department stores that sell fur. Cancel magazines that allow fur
advertisements. Tell any friend who wears a fur coat (or fur trim) that it is not
"ok" to do so. If you have a coat yourself, don't wear it. Donate it to a school
or museum.
2. Visit the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade at http://www.banfur.com/index2.htm
3. Read an overview of the fur industry by the Fund for Animals at http://www.fund.org/facts/fur.html
4. Visit the Animal Rights Resource Site on Envirolink at http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/
5. The Fur Industry of America site at http://www.fur.org/edmat.html contains overstated figures about the
acceptance of fur and understated concerns about the treatment of the animals. Don't be
distracted by anyone's numbers ("numb-ers"). It doesn't take a statistician to
figure out that suffering for greed and fashion is wrong.
6. Read an editorial about the fur industry at http://www.connix.com/~cbacon/hall/highlights/feb98/opinions/antifur.htm
7. Learn of the fashion's industry partnership with People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals to end the use of fur at http://www.bossmodels.com/turnyourbackonfur.html
8. Find your Congressperson and e-mail them. If you know your Zip code, you can find them
at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html
and tell them you want them to outlaw the steel jaw trap and the business of trapping.
9. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new)
books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/associate?assoc_id=212
where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over
the market.
10. Visit the owlcam at http://members.aol.com/owlbox/nest98.htm
to see a family of owls living and raising their young. Remind yourself of the miraculous
cycles of life. Updated daily.
{Jackie Giuliano, can be found shaking his head in Venice, California. He is a Professor
of Environmental Studies for Antioch University, Los Angeles, and the University of
Phoenix Southern California Campuses. He is also the Educational Outreach Manager for the
Outer Planets/Solar Probe Project, a NASA program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to send
space probes to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the planet Pluto, and the Sun. Please send
your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@deepteaching.com
and visit his web site at http://www.jps.net/jackieg}
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