The Real Cost Of Fur by Brenda Shoss To subscribe to Kinship Circle Letters for Animals, email: subscribe@kinshipcircle.org As a Northwestern University freshman, I wore recycled rags to appear arty and anti-mainstream. My prized vintage possession was Grandma Ethel's black sweater with the fox fur collar. After college I shared a condominium with Tikvah, an orange Maine Coon mix cat and Stanley, a white and black Lhasa Apsa. I recall how the light darted in luminous arcs and folds across their small furry bodies as they played or slept. Their fur seemed so alive. The white foxes who died for Grandma Ethel's sweater once ran and foraged for food in their natural home. I found it strange to view some animals as coats and others as companions. Tikvah and Stanley drove granny's garment into eternal retirement. As I slowly replaced my fur and leather items with man-made togs, I realized that the struggle to find faux-chic paled in comparison to the plight of animals mutilated for fashion. If any of the 30 million foxes, chinchillas, minks, sables, beavers, or rabbits raised on fur farms could relay their story in human terms, it might read: "I was born in a shed, confined to one of many wire cages encrusted in feces and rusty food cans. I want to run for miles, burrow and dig. I can't, so I pace and tear at my skin. I've never seen the sun, grass or trees. "One day human hands will strap a metal noose around my neck and shove an electric prod into my rectum. They'll force a metal conductor down my throat, to shoot 240 volts of electricity through my body. "I'll emit a crackling sound just before my teeth fall out and my body convulses. Since the electrical current won't stun my brain, I'll feel the excruciating force of a massive heart attack for up to two minutes." Sadly, this is no anthropomorphic rant. Sentient beings do not require human intellect to feel fear and pain. No creature with a central nervous system can be raised to gracefully endure electrocution through its genitals. In addition to anal electrocution, some of the 10 to 100 animals slaughtered for every fur coat or fur-trimmed garment are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide gas and skinned alive. Others undergo neck snapping, a method in which the killer jerks the animal's vertebra out of the socket. Still others are injected with pesticides, chloral hydrate, or magnesium sulfate. Fur-bearing animals who can't be cage-raised are caught in body-crushing traps, steel jaw leghold traps or snares. One out of four chew a leg off to escape. Trappers club, stomp, suffocate, drown or strangle animals who have already suffered in the traps for days. For every target animal, two to ten times as many trash animals-dogs, cats, deer, squirrels, birds-are maimed and left to die. But as more consumers learn about the methods used to ensure undamaged pelts, the fur industry sinks deeper into a financial/image slump. Along with its deceptive slogan, "Fur is back!" garments are now disguised in pink, blue or day-glo orange dyes to appeal to a younger market. Fur trim and lining are sheared to resemble velvet. Despite attempts to reinvent the fur trade as humane and hip, major U.S. fur retailers such as Evans and Andriana have declared bankruptcy. The Fur & Leather Centre is the only remaining furrier in St. Louis. Dillards, Macy's West & other prominent department chains have closed their fur salons. Steel-jaw leghold traps are illegal in 89 countries and according to a Gallup Poll, 74% of Americans want them outlawed here. Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland are phasing out fur farms. The United Kingdom recently passed the Fur Farming Prohibition Bill, which forbids all farming of animals for their fur by the year 2003. Designers who refuse to work with fur include Oleg Cassini, Todd Oldham, Calvin Klein, Betsey Johnson, Bill Blass, Carolina Herrera, Stella McCartney, and Geoffrey Beene. However, compassion-challenged retailers, magazines, and celebrities still exist. Personally, I'd rather wear today's sophisticated and warmer synthetic furs and fabrics. Why broadcast an animal's cruel demise on a jacket or sweater? Part of what makes us human is our power to make ethical choices. I'm pretty sure Grandma Ethel would be proud of me. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1.) Don't wear or buy fur. Don't patronize stores that sell fur. Write anti-fur letters to retailers or catalogs that frequently feature fur items. 2.) Tell Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue that their fur salons represent a time when ignorance dictated fashion. Mr. Gerald Sampson, President Neiman Marcus 1618 Main Street Dallas, TX 75201 800-937-9146 Ms. Lori Rhodes, Vice President Publicity Saks Fifth Avenue 12 East 49th Street New York, NY 10017 212-940-4246 3.) Voice your displeasure about Victoria's Secret choice to include real fur garments in fall catalogs. Victoria's Secret North American Office, Customer Service P.O. Box 16589 Columbus, OH 43216-6589 Customer Service: 1-800-888-1500 email: go to URL, then click "comments & suggestions:" http://www.victoriassecret.com/vsc/html/custsrvc/getintouch/index.html Mary Ellen Coyne, Executive Vice President General Merchandise Manager 1114 Avenue of the Americas, 5th Floor New York, NY 10036 ph: 212-403-9216 email: http://www.victoriassecret.com/html/custsrvc/contact/ Monica Mitro, public relations Victoria Secret Stores 4 Limited Parkway East Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 Fax: 614-577-7088