It is believed that fur was one of the first materials used for clothing. Initially, fur coats and garments were used by humans to protect themselves from cold climates and are most associated with indigenous people. Fur was once worn for its comfort and sustainability. However, throughout many years the use of fur has targeted a new area: fashion. Fur has become a symbol of wealth and the high-class lifestyle. People tend to associate the wearing of fur with a classy, rich, lifestyle. Personally, whenever I think of someone who wear fur, I picture a middle-aged female, smoking a cigarette and sitting on a chair cross-legged. She has short, blond hair and has pearls on that match her long, white fur coat. Her face is covered in makeup: she has just a little bit too much scarlet lipstick on and she has endowed herself with an artificial beauty mark next to her left eye. She feels confident in her heavy white coat. She remembers receiving her coat as a gift from her friend, who claimed it came from a high-end boutique (when really it was bought at the Macy's across from her office). To her, a beautiful white coat- mink, was it? or possibly arctic fox.... She never really thought about where the garment of clothing that epitomized her rich lifestyle came from.

And when it comes to wearing fur, this is often the problem. Those who wear fur often don’t consider where exactly their clothing came from. More than half of the fur in the U.S. come from China. In an investigation undergone by PETA, it was discovered that everyday animals were “bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and often skinned alive for their fur”. In a video clip, undercover PETA representatives document the abuse that numerous animals experience. Within 60 second, the video depicts live animals getting thrown to the ground, pacing frantically in tiny cages, and worst of all, having their fur ripped from their bodies as they are hanging. After being skinned, many animals used for their fur are thrown into a pile  of the same species, where they are naked, bloody, and still alive. A mink, many times smaller and unrecognizable without its fur, blinks its eyes and tilts its neck before finally dying in a pile of other minks.

Watching the videos produced by PETA several times throughout the past couple years, I still feel uneasy. I can only bring myself to hope that the animals that are used for their fur are incapable of feeling the same pain that I feel (considering a single papercut lends itself to tears and wincing). Yet, for the woman with the white fur coat and all consumers of fur for that matter, this doesn’t seem to be a concern. Either these consumers are unaware of the suffering that these animals experience, or maybe they are confident that animals do not experience such a thing. Plenty of people have told me that “animals don’t feel pain; their brains are not developed well enough”. Of course, there really isn’t a way to find out. Believing that animals cannot suffer is rather questionable to me, but to the individual who is desperate to make a fashion statement, it just might be the determining factor when deciding whether to purchase a fur coat.

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/