The international fur industry is launching a global campaign to highlight the colossal environmental damage caused by plastic based fake fur.
Fake fur is often pushed by animal activist groups as the ethical alternative to real fur.
But in a hard hitting campaign across all continents, the fur trade says, “It’s time to call out the fake news about fake fur”.
The industry has produced a video which shows the destructive nature of fake fur and is being circulated worldwide, in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Russia, the USA and throughout Europe.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the International Fur Federation (IFF) with the clear aim to demonstrate that real fur is the “responsible choice”.
Its central message is to demonstrate how:
- Real fur is eco-friendly at every stage of production
- Real fur lasts for decades
- Real fur degrades much faster than fake fur
- Fur-farmed animals eat waste bio-materials
- Fur farm waste is turned into bio-fuels and fertilisers
- Wild fur is a useful aid to wildlife management
- Real fur is sustainable – either through farming or hunting overabundant species
And it takes aim at fake fur’s deadly environmental credentials, showing how:
- Fake fur is produced in factories from chemicals derived from fossil fuels
- Fake fur is made from nylon and polyester – the main culprits for the emission of microfibers
- These are types of plastic which take decades to biodegrade and are consumed by marine life
- Fake fur then enters the food chain
Mark Oaten, IFF CEO, said: “Natural fur is the only responsible choice when it comes to choosing between fake fur and natural fur.
“The consumer has been fed a constant diet of fake news when it comes to fake fur.
“It is a grossly irresponsible product which ends up polluting the earth and its waterways for generations. It poisons the soil and kills wildlife.
“Scientists and politicians are united that plastic should be eliminated as far as possible from the retail chain.
“Natural fur is the only sustainable alternative. It is natural, lasts decades and breaks down much faster if it ends up in land-fill.
“Many top designers continue to use the natural material, and the IFF is working with the most respected fashion houses in the world to develop boundary-pushing techniques to create haute couture and every day fashion.
“It also ensures the fur industry worldwide produces the most sustainable, ethically-sourced pelts possible.
“If sustainability is the name of the game, the sale of wild fur both provides vital income for remote indigenous communities and helps toward managing their local environments.
“In addition, farmed fur animals eat food prepared from the waste products of the meat, fish and dairy processing industries – a much more sustainable and ethical alternative to dumping this excess.
“Waste from fur farms can produce other environmental benefits too. These include the production of biofuel to reduce the demand for fossil fuels and the production of agricultural fertilisers to replace high-energy manufactured ones.
“Fur farming also has some of the most stringent controls for animal welfare found in any industry worldwide.”
My concern about real fur, however, is manyfold:
1) when I read “Fur-farmed animals eat waste bio-materials”, I wonder if that is a healthy diet for them. What kind of “waste” could that be???
2) I also feel uneasy about how farm-raised animals are raised — do they live well? — and how their fur is gained — is there cruelty against these animals? In a profit-oriented industry, well-being of animals usually comes second!
3) What does “most stringent controls for animal welfare” really mean?
With regards,
Gisela Uhl
[email protected]
Hello Gisela,
Their diet is protein primarily stemming from chicken and fish offal from the production of human food. The diet is indeed carefully composed of minerals, amino acids, vitamins, carbos and protein.
Fur farmers are people like everyone else, and would not feel good about seeing animals in distress. Fur farmers however also have a strong economic incentive to treat the animals well. Fur pelts are so-called price elastic products, which means that good quality pelts achieve substantially higher prices, unlike for example milk which cost more or less the same per unit regardless of the quality. A pelt with bite marks or a pelt from a diseased animal would be punished by the market making it in the interest of the farmer to keep welfare standards high.
WelFur assessment of a fur farm takes 6-8 hours suggesting a thorough control. In addition to the voluntary WelFur scheme there are typically annual inspections by the state vet agency (or similar authority) + in the majority of Europe countries it is mandatory to have 2-4 annual vet visits. In summary a European fur farm may have up to 7-8 external inspections in a year. This is unmatched by any other animal sector, I suppose.