Faux fur is not biodegradable, but it’s kinder in an industry that skins animals alive and sometimes electrocutes them to avoid ‘damaging the fur’ for high society. Animals used include foxes, rabbits, stoats (due to their fur going pure white in winter), raccoons and squirrels.
Fabulous Furs offers fake fur coats and jackets, a company founded years ago by a woman who was on her way to buy a fur coat, until she heard a radio program about kittens about to be killed, to make fur coats. Others prefer not to wear fake fur, thinking it may encourage the fashion.
If you run a fashion or gift shop, sign up to Fur Free Retailer, and place the free ‘fox logo’ in your window, to show you don’t sell fur (DNA tests on ‘fake fur trim’ found some to be real). Many people also choose to boycott Canadian seafood, until the baby seal cull ends.
If you have an old fur coat stashed in the attic (or one from a relative), donate it to your local wildlife shelter. Volunteers cut them up into large squares to use as ‘surrogate mums’ for orphaned babies. Many unsettled animals quickly calm down, once snuggled up to a real fur blanket. Inspired through international programs like Coats for Cubs.
