Should the Animal Fur Trade Be Illegalized?

In the 1500’s, the Indians and Europeans started the fur trade. It was an exchange between the Indians and Europeans. The Indians traded fur for such goods like tools and weapons. At first, the beaver fur became the most valuable furs for making felt hats for the Europeans and after a few centuries, in the mid 1800’s, the fur trade flourished because of its popularity. The Indian and Eskimo trappers have been selling and trading their pelts with various goods or money, ever since.

 The fur trade is one of the earliest and most significant industries in North America. For more than 300 years, the fur trading industry played a major role in the development of the United States and Canada.

Each year, the fur industry kills over 50 million animals for fashion. Such animals, like lynx, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, and many others are killed for their fur to be taken to warm people to make them look gorgeous, stunning and prestigious. People also love to feel the softness of it. Is it worth it?

            According to ‘INFURMATION’, more than 45 million animals worldwide, including raccoons, dogs, cats, foxes, mink, and chinchillas are raised in cages and treated brutally. Not only that, they suffer from several physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of caging conditions. After having short-lives in cages, they will be killed inhumanely. The statistics of the percentages of animals to make fur-coats shows that there are about 12-15 lynx, 12-20 foxes, 10-15 wolves or coyotes, 27-30 raccoons, and some other animals that are killed in a year.

            In its website, ‘INFURMATION’ gives us an information about trapping. Some of the traps have been gave out as unmerciful tools for killing by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association.

Millions of wild animals, including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, lynx, raccoons, and wolves, suffer and die in traps each year. Countless dogs and cats, deer, birds and other animals—including threatened and endangered animals—are also injured and killed each year by the indiscriminate traps. Traps, including steel-jaw leghold traps, body-gripping traps, and wire neck snares, are inhumane devices that inflict great pain and suffering. (Infurmation)

Fashionable rich people who can afford fur coats and love the softness of it, may say that looking as astonishing is much more important than killing the animals for those high-priced clothes because they may think that killing the animals will not affect a humans’ life. The others may say that we do not have to be afraid of the extinctions of some endangered animals because the next few generations can see their pictures or the preserved-animals. Moreover, there are some people who just love to collect those fur coats like having more than two mantles, even though it is only used for warming themselves. Is that necessary? Admiring how they look by wearing it and loving the softness of it, people who can afford to run the fur industry barely think about the animals themselves.

Although the fur coats may look stunning or prestigious and there are ways of keeping the endangered animals, I believe that animal fur trade must be prohibited and illegalized because the animals have rights to live and people must not exploit them for their own profit.

Even though it will be a great damage for many fur industries because of stopping the fur trading, we have to see the time, what is going on now and arrange the priorities to adjust the nature for good. There are some reasons why I really agree that all the fur trades must be prohibited and illegalized.

We should realize that the endangered animals soon or later will become extinct and it is our job to try our best to take care and support the societies that protect them. The people must not kill them more and more only for prestigious looks, their own profit and pleasure by selling and owning it. The animals have rights to live and freedom of living in their own habitats, rather than being caged. They are living creatures that need to live in a place that suits them for living normally.  In the case of caging, I found a source that tells us : “Animals who are naturally solitary are caged together, often resulting in cannibalism, and animals are often left to decompose in cages with live animals” (idausa). Being tortured, caged, and killed pitilessly, the animals can do nothing under the man’s power.

Traps often hurt or kill the animals in horrific ways. In ‘Trapped in Agony’, it tells us about the suffering that the animals have to get through in the steel-jaw leghold trap, the most usual trap that is used.

The most common is the steel-jaw leghold trap. Animals caught in a hidden steel jaw trap suffer a slow, excruciating death. The trap snaps down on the limb of an unsuspecting animal, sometimes breaking the limb. The trapped animals often freeze to death or are attacked by predators from whom they cannot flee. Many frantically chew off their own legs to escape the agonizing pain. If they are still alive when the trapper returns to the scene, they are bludgeoned or strangled to death. (idausa)

I believe that an animals’ life is much more precious than the soft fur coats that are worn for warming ourselves. We do have another way to create the fur pelts by using the synthetic furs. People who think that fashion is more favorable and do not care about the animals may say that we do not have to be afraid of the animals’ extinctions. What we usually think is it will be hapless for the next few generations who are not able to see the endangered species, but the others can say that it will not matter because the next generations can see the pictures, the preserved animals or the clones of it. Although we will be able to see those things in the future, it still will not be the same as the original ones. More than that, there are some who say that killing the animals like tigers, lions, foxes and others for fashion will not harm humans. It is totally and absolutely a mistake to think so.

Moreover, killing the animal threatens or damages the balance of the ecosystem more and more. Nowadays, many industries do their production without thinking further about the other matters that could affect nature and other livings. It is positively getting worse with people killing the animals, especially the endangered ones. On the contrary, some may say killing the tigers, foxes, beavers, and other animals will not affect human beings directly. It is not true. We may not feel the big impact in a short time, but let us think about the future. For example, the amount of tigers is decreasing, it takes a few times before the tiger’s prey multiples and in the end it gets out of control. In the case of the food chains, when one is missing or disappears, it will affect the others’ future. When one is getting more and more numerous, it will cause the missing of it’s food or it’s rivals.

Most importantly, we must take a responsibility to establish and manage the nature, rather than exploit it massively.  We must realize that as humans, we have rights to explore and gain luck from nature, but that does not mean we should take it for granted. These days, some of the fur trade has been illegalized or prohibited, but they still do it secretly because it gains more profit, rather than selling the synthetic ones. Being too egoistic and strong-headed, the trappers almost never think about the animals that they killed and only care about the pelts. The more pelts, the more profits. Just like from the article “We Must Help Ban This Cruel Fur Trade”, the author says “…Seal fur is used in the fashion industry, with each pelt fetching £25-£40 and hunters can make £2,000 each in a few days” (Evans, 2008). That is why they just cannot stop hurting the animals only for their furs that is adored by the fur-mantle’s collectors. When will this be handled?

In other words, the existence of the animals is much more important than trading and having fur coats can be made not only the real pelts, but also something else like wools, for example.  Even though using authentic fur best, we must consider the reduction in numbers in animals, especially the endangered ones.

To conclude, I’m strongly believe that the Fur Trade should be illegalized because we must do our best to avoid more animal extinctions, consider the effects of the fur trade for all the living beings and forbid or make it harder for the people who exploit the nature on a large scale. It is not easy for animals to survive and fur trading only makes it worse.

           

 Thanks for reading J