Umbra on fur

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http://grist.org/advice/ask/2008/01/09/?source=ask

 

Worn Yesterday

On (inherited) fur coats

By Umbra Fisk

09 Jan 2008

 

 

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra. Oh advice maven on all things

green, I have a problem!

 

 

I live in a very cold climate (read: Great White North) and my mother recently

gave me my grandmother's old fur coat. It is the warmest thing I have ever

owned, but can I wear it? It was a gift from my grandfather to my grandmother

back in the early 1960s! I have other friends who are in the same situation --

they have recently received regifted family furs that are no longer in use. In

one friend's case, the furs were given to her grandfather as a gift from First

Nations people because he was a trader. I would never buy a fur coat, but is it

OK to wear one that is twice my age and has been used and loved? If it is OK to

wear, how do I communicate this to my eco-conscious friends? If it's not, what

do I do with it?

 

 

Cold in Canada

 

 

Dearest Cold,

 

 

All the animal advocates, who have thoroughly thought through all the

implications of wearing fur, instruct us to be fur-free. I am sorely tempted to

say go ahead, though. I want to break my record for getting comments on an

article: my personal best, so far as I know, is the cats vs. birds article of

November '07, with 66 comments as of today. I bet I could easily beat that with

a pro-fur recommendation. Even mentioning fur may get us close to 50 comments.

 

 

 

Is it OK to get dolled up?

photo: Robert Kosara via FlickrAs you know, today's furs are mostly from fur

farms. Blameless animals are held in cramped cages until their early and

gruesome deaths, when their skins are peeled off and their carcasses dumped.

Mink, fox, rabbits, sables, and ferrets are usually cage-raised. These cage

operations can have similar ecological impacts to animal confinement operations

for food -- water pollution, odor, and disease. A few animals are hard to raise

in confinement and are still trapped in the wild, including lynx and bobcat.

Being caught in a trap is no party time either, and although trapping won't

produce confinement-associated runoff, non-target animals are caught in the

traps, injured, and then killed or released. Including: house cats.

 

 

If one believes that animals should be treated respectfully, there's pretty much

no way to support fur. If one believes that animals are a natural resource for

humans to harvest as we like, one still cannot escape the negative ecological

impact of fur farming. Did I mention that mink are often gassed to death with

carbon monoxide?

 

 

What about your furs from Ye Olde Dayes, back when trapping was a way to survive

in a cruel economy, and furs were the only hope of survival in a cruel Canadian

winter? The animal-rights activists rightly say: those days are over. Although

your fur may be from that time, you live today, and wearing a vintage fur

contributes to the glamorization of fur. Although I can muster some arguments

against this idea. One might be: I don't have any friends who can afford a new

fur, so grandpa's fur is not going to inspire new purchases.

 

 

Ask Umbra continues below

ADVERTISING POLICY

 

But we believe that our individual actions have an impact, and we try to move

toward a good life in all aspects of our days. If you are ready to make an

anti-fur stance: No fur for you unless you fall into the No Other Choice

category -- no money for another coat, live somewhere insanely cold, cultural

fur tradition, etc. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accepts donated

furs, which they in turn pass on to homeless people, use for anti-fur education,

or give to animal rehabilitators. The Humane Society of the United States uses

donated furs for animal rehabilitation as well, so that orphaned animals have a

familiar surface to nestle against. I do find the idea of an animal orphan

snuggling up against a dead animal a little creepy, but maybe the whole

situation is just sad and there's no way around it.

 

 

Furrierly,

Umbra

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any

nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

 

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine.

Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this

column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit,

floors 2B-4B.

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain