Animal Fur Industry
Human beings should stop buying fur due to the cruel and unethical treatments these animals receive. To reduce the damage done to the coat, animals bred for fur production are, in most cases, electrocuted, either anally or genitally. This agonizing slaughter method is unethical because although animals are not of the same caliber as human beings, by virtue of being living creatures, they deserve to be treated with respect. Animals have as much right to fair and ethical treatment and handling when they are alive, as should be the same case for their deaths. Human beings have the moral obligation to treat all animals with dignity and rare them for the right reasons. By seeking to limit the damage done to the fur, the methods of killing fur animals are degrading and antagonizing, as argued by the state of New York, which was the first state to ban this inhumane act.
The fur trade is widespread in the world today, given the popularity of fur products, especially in the fashion industry. Due to the high demand for fur in this industry, it has led to the cruel raring of fur animals. Currently, 85% of the world’s entire fur industry’s skin comes from animals held captive on fur factories’ farms where they are kept in gruesome conditions. Fur farming is a cruel act since the animals bred for fur production, such as rabbits and foxes are in most cases confined in small, crowded wire cages for the rest of their lives. These unhealthy breeding grounds limit the animals from expressing their natural behaviors consistent with their growth and development stages.
The animal fur industry directly leads to the extinction of certain animal species. By hunting down particular animal species for their fur, human beings endanger the lives of these animals and threaten to wipe out their entire generation. Although the fashion industry has evolved into producing their own coat through the rearing and breeding of fur animals, by isolating them from their natural habitat, these animals do not get to interact with other animals of their species. Around 100 million animals are bred and killed annually around the globe for their fur by fur factory farms. Rearing fur directly implies that the continuation of a particular species of animals is left to the diminishing numbers in the natural settings, without providing avenues where the reared animals interact with the rest of their population to carry on the generation.
When it comes to targeting animals in the wild setting, foxes and minks make for the highest target due to the high demand for the type of fur they have. These animals are killed continuously in the wild, without a care of the danger this act posses when it comes to the continuation of the species generation. Overtime, foxes, and minks, as well as seals that are found in the chilly northern waters, have become more extinct, threatening to wipe the face of the planet off these animals. Although the regulations of seal hunting of 1911 resulted in the revamping of these animals, they now face the same threat as the rest of the fur animals.
Thirdly, the fur trade upsets the ecological balance, in addition to it being illegal in many states across the world. According to the Animal Rights Association, the manure produced by the intensive farming practices of millions of animals for fur cause an enormous strain on the environment. In other words, fur farming causes an ecological imbalance globally due to the high rates of pollution they cause. Like most farming practices, fur farming causes degradation of air and water quality due to the release of toxic substances into the atmosphere and water bodies. The high phosphorus inputs into water bodies from mink production directly lower the quality of the water bodies around the world, further toxifying it in such a manner that it poses a general health hazard to anyone using the water.
According to the World Bank, the hazardous process of fur farming and dressing is so problematic that it has led to the fur industry being ranked as one of the five worst industries for toxic metal pollution. Compared to the perceived advantages of producing fur for the fashion industry, fur raring is detrimental not only to the animal’s’ health but also to the health of the general public due to the high levels of pollution.
In conclusion, fur farming and trade is detrimental on the global scale on many fronts. The business is inhumane, subjecting millions of animals to torture, denying them the opportunity to exhibit and practice their natural growth and development phases. Animals reared for their fur are subjected to harsh living conditions, and face cruel, horrific deaths that are not befitting of even wild animals, all in a bid to secure their high-quality fur. Secondly, fur trade directly threatens the future survival of certain animal species, which have now become more endangered and on the verge of extinction. Lastly, fur farming causes health havoc by contributing to the high rates of environmental pollutions., the methods used to rare and kill these animals introduce a lot of toxic substances into the air and water bodies, which has dire health effects on the habitats around the factories and farms.