Fur: Fashion or Abuse?

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by oxlilshorti, Sep 11, 2009.

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  1. oxlilshorti

    oxlilshorti Level I

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    I believe that fur is a horrible aspect of the fashion world! I mean it kills innocent animals that have done nothing wrong! How could someone choose to wear an animals skin!?! Not to mention they can easily make faux fur that look and feel the same without the harm of the animals...

    What are you beliefs? Do you like to wear fur? Why? Do you think fur is inhumane? Why?
     
  2. BlazinDivah

    BlazinDivah Level III

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    Abuse :(
    I love critters lol
     
  3. jaxmyne

    jaxmyne Level I

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    Total Abuse. :( :nope:
     
  4. Rhett

    Rhett Level IV

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    Animals bred for their fur are bred for size, coat color, and hair cover. When an animal is under stress, it loses fur and weight. Why would I, as a fur farmer, want to make my chinchilla's life a paradise? Make them fat and happy. More fur.

    Second, if you're a pretty chinchilla, you get to have sex your whole life. Good genes get passed on. Better fur.

    As for point C. Why wouldn't you use a plastic walmart bag as a purse? They do virtually the same thing... For one, it's branding. Coach purses sell because of the name Coach. Oh, then why not buy a knock-off Coach? It isn't the same thing. Small differences, plus the price tag. When people have money, they spend it on what they can afford. Faux fur is the cheap knock-off. People pay for the brand name - real fur.

    In summary - food, sex, and money.

    I'm playing the Devil's advocate because I'm bored. I didn't think anyone would defend this side, so I did. Personally, I don't wear fur. But I also don't care if people wear it. Fur is a business, just like meat. I see no one defending the cows as much as those cute little chinchillas though.
     
  5. Rena

    Rena Level III

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    I'd think it's fine, actually, though too much would be abuse. It's like how we kill animals for food. If killing them for fur entails to cruelty, so does killing them for food. Then we should all become vegetarian already, which should not be the case x.x
     
  6. oxlilshorti

    oxlilshorti Level I

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    Well I feel if you kill an animal for food then its human to use its skin as well... but if you're only killing it for its fur and then throw away the meat then its inhuman and cruel
     
  7. Elhoof

    Elhoof Level III

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    :lol: this post wins..

    I have no problem with people wearing fur, anything bred for its fur will probably have a way better life than most of the stuff we breed for food related products. If I'm willing to eat it I think its hypocritical to object to wearing it, the animal is just as dead either way and I'm using the byproducts constructively. It could be argued that you can choose not to wear fur/use fur but you can choose also to not eat meat and I wouldn't stop eating meat for anything (other than a night with megan fox) so naturally I don't have a problem with using fur. More a life choice imo
     
  8. Carletto

    Carletto Level II

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    Abuse :(

    I love animal and this is an horrible thing
     
  9. Raider

    Raider Level II

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    Definately abuse. I cant stand animal cruelty. And as bad as it sounds, I believe in killing humans before killing animals. human have a chance to defend themselves.
     
  10. Virre

    Virre Level IV

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    Happy to see that someone's making an effort for the sake of the debate, Rhetty (you've got it going on ;) )
    One of the major issues is that the animals often aren't treated as good as you say. It's not that the farmers are malevolent, but it's that you simply cannot fulfill an animal's needs all the time, and often the expenses outweigh the needs of the animal. Also, this may not be the best way to further good genetics. While the fatest chinchillas may have their genes passed on, it doesn't necessarily mean that the best genes are passed on. Cows for example, are now very much unable to sustain a good life without being milked frequently. This is the product of man's early gene modification (read breeding). It's good for the milk farmers, but it wouldn't be good for the cows if the humans disappeared or stopped drinking milk. The long term result of chinchilla farming might result in the chinchillas not being able to live on because of excessive fur or losing their ability to find food on their own (such as animals in captivity often do). It's good for the end product, but not for the animal.

    Actually, the feeling and looks of good made fake fur and real fur is practically impossible for one to notice the difference. The only difference is the price.
    Comparing to knock off's in the textile brand doesn't really apply here. People care for where it came from and who designed the real Gucci bag. They don't care for the fur farmer, but only the end product.
     
  11. Will

    Will Level IV

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    Let me answer the debate question with another question: would you rather be killed and eaten by a gun-toting, white-supremacist Nazi-redneck, or be killed and worn as panties for Jessica Alba?

    Extreme situation, I know, but still very possible (though, in all seriousness, who wears fur panties?)
     
  12. PrincessLuna

    PrincessLuna Level III

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    I don't have a moral issue with people wearing fur. I just don't much like it - I think it's kind of icky. :p
     
  13. Rhett

    Rhett Level IV

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    Any animal held in captivity (aside from those cats that bring you dead bunnies as presents) will forget how to acquire food in the wild, but this hasn't stopped people from owning animals as pets. This is a very good point, but it doesn't really have a place in the debate. Chinchillas used for breeding will never go back in to the wild. If anything, they will go from being a captive at a farm to a captive at a rescue shelter.
    Mistreatment of your breeding animals will lead to a revolving of your license. Since you have to get a license for breeding mice every year, I'd imaging a large farm who's soul purpose is breeding animals for fur would have to get it renewed a lot more often. In order to get a license in the first place and to renew one, someone comes in, inspects your "breeding facilities" - normally a basement or attic in the case of mice, determines their living conditions - cleanliness, number of mice per cage, and food, then gives you the license if you passed. You can't just one day say "hey, i'm going to make a bunch of chinchillas have sex, then skin them!". There are rules, as with every business. Inhuman treatment is a no no, also as with any business.


    Will, you get six internets for that.
     
  14. Freja

    Freja Level IV

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    Well, I wouldn't really call it abuse. I don't know, I mean, if the pets are treated right or killed right, I can't really see the BIG problem. On the other hand, if the animals are being ripped off of their fur ALIVE (I saw some horrible videos of that =.=; ) I really can't see the reason.

    I don't wear fur myself, basically because I don't think it's pretty. I wouldn't feel comfortable in fur, though, I just REALLY don't like the idea that a pet has worn it - and you don't know how it was killed etc. I usually don't think about stuff like this, I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but with fur, I just really never liked it. I don't have this big issue with people wearing fur, and I don't judge them because they do, I just don't like it myself. And I guess that's fair enough.
    That said, I do think it's a weird fashion-thing. One thing is that it keeps you warm, but fashion? Nah, I don't get it..
     
  15. joeharrymoma

    joeharrymoma Newbie

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    I think it is abuse because as you said, they kill inocent animals just to make a coat or something... I don't get why they don't use faux (fake)fur and as you said it looks&feels the same.
     
  16. oxlilshorti

    oxlilshorti Level I

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    I'm not gonna lie I wear leather but the difference between leather and fur is that leather is from animals that are often eaten i.e. Cow, Kangaroo, Alligator, ect. so I don't see leather as a bad thing because you're using the WHOLE animal and not just it's skin/fur...
     
  17. Virre

    Virre Level IV

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    The point I was trying to make was not so much that these specific animals would be unable to aquire food if they were let out in the nature, but that the selective breeding will make the species unable to aquire food if the fur farming is stopped in the future.

    You do need to aquire a license to start a fur farm, but the truth is that violations against the rules are often not detected. I can only speak for Sweden (and we do have very strict regulations for fur farming) but here the controls are actually often not carried out because the resources are missing. There's also a problem with importing fur, which is often done from countries with very low regulations of fur farming. Recently there was a big report on how goose feathers were obtained. The cruelty of the treatment was extensive and while this might not be fur, the requirements for keeping the animals and treating them can be compared. So while regulations do sound good, they don't work well in the real life.
     
  18. Valaris

    Valaris Level I

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    I'm kind of double edged, for instance, i think wearing faux fur is just fine, but im an animal lover, and im training to be a breeder, but if you kill an animal just for the fur, and make it go through a rough life only to be slaughtered, then thats abuse.

    I don't know what to think really. Fur wearing is wrong if you only get the fur from the animal, yet im a vegetarian, and since most people like PETA and other groups take it too far, fur wearing is ok, but not if it means brutally murdering the animal.

    I guess thats my opinion
     
  19. oxlilshorti

    oxlilshorti Level I

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    Well right like I said wearing fur if it's been say "beaten" off the animal and some people in Russia skin the animals alive... I've seen the movies... then no its not ok and they should be jailed... but if its humaly killed and you use the WHOLE animal like eat the meat as well then you're just doing what the ancients did way back when...
     
  20. eloisesa

    eloisesa Level II

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    i think that fur as fashion looks really horrible and old fashioned and when i think about skinning my chinchillas it makes me sad :( i could never do that to them, so i feel that that is abuse
     
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