An Absence of Standards for the Animals Held in China's Fur Farms leads to Inhumane Methods of Slaughter

When I went out to get my mail the other day, I noticed I had a letter from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). My initial thought upon seeing that letter was, "...requesting more money. Great." And it is true that, located inside that envelope, was a piece of paper requesting a monetary donation, generously accompanied with a complimentary return envelope. Also inside that envelope, however, were a few pages printed with information about fur production.

Prior to getting involved with PETA, like most people, I was aware of some of the basics of fur production, and that there is a degree of inhumanity behind it. I didn't realize until I opened that unwanted envelope from PETA, however, how truly appalling fur production really is, particularly in China. The scope of animal torture and suffering throughout society seems indefinite. Despite my craving to strip the entire fur industry down to the naked truth, it is simply impossible to accomplish such a feat in only one posting. The section within the industry that I have decided to tackle today was inspired by that letter I received from PETA a few weeks ago, and it focuses on the inhumane treatment animals receive in China as a result of the market demand for fur.

When I opened that letter from PETA and started reading, the paragraph that caught my attention and caused me to catch my breathe pointed out that, in China, animals used for fur are often skinned alive. When skinned alive, the animals continue to fight throughout the entire process, and after they have been skinned, they often continue to breathe and move their eyes for up to 10 minutes. Making the situation worse is the fact that China is the supplier for at least 50% of the world's fur, with some sources claiming that number is as high as 85% (1, 2).

When PETA conducted an undercover investigation into China’s fur farms, the findings were worse than they had imagined. When animals in China are skinned for their fur, they suffer one or more torturous procedures. They may be electrocuted genitally or anally (which can result in cardiac arrest while the animal is still conscious), bludgeoned with an object or thrown on the ground to decrease resistance (often causing broken bones and convulsions while maintaining consciousness), and/or strung up while alive and conscious, only to have the skin stripped from the animal’s writhing body. These methods are used partly because the pelts need to come off as clean as possible, partly because the pelts supposedly come off more easily when the animal is alive and warm, and partly because the people committing the act cannot be bothered to exert the effort to humanely kill the animals prior to being skinned (4). After the pelts are removed, the conscious animals are thrown on top of each other where their hearts continue to beat for 5-10 minutes, spending the last moments of their lives in unimaginable pain. One PETA investigator reported watching “a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera” (4).

The animals discovered at the fur farms in China were not minks and foxes; instead, they were common housepets that people in the United States particularly value. They were cats and dogs. The following is testimony from a witness to the dog slaughter:

Once pulled out from its cage, the raccoon dog curls up into a ball in mid-air. … One woman in a headscarf is first to grab hold of the raccoon dog's tail and the others drift away peevishly. The woman in the headscarf swings the animal upwards. It forms an arc in the air and is then slammed heavily to the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust. The raccoon dog tries to stand up, its paws scrabbling in the grit. The wooden club in the woman's hand swings down onto its forehead. The woman picks up the animal and walks toward the other side of the road, throwing it onto a pile of other raccoon dogs. A stream of blood trickles from its muzzle, but its eyes are open and it ontinues to repeatedly blink, move its paws, raise its head and collapse to the ground. Beside it lies another raccoon dog. Its four limbs have been hacked off but still it continues to yelp. (2)

Many of the animals that were skinned were bred at a fur farm. Those that were not bred on a farm were most likely someone’s pet, picked up off the street and thrown into an over-stuffed wire cage with minimal room in which to move. When PETA went to an animal market in Southern China, they found animals that had been deprived of food and water for days. Some animals were injured, some were sick, others were dead, and they were all packed in together. PETA reported that many of the animals “still had collars on, a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions, stolen to be made into fur coats” (3). These conditions literally cause the animals to go crazy. Those that become mentally unstable throw themselves against the cage bars, gnaw on their own limbs, or attack and kill each other as a result of psychosis (5). “Chinese fur farms [have made] a mockery of the most elementary animal welfare standards” (4), and the only way to disassemble and be rid of these farms is to wipe out the market demand for fur.

Why do I claim that a drastic decrease in market demand is the only way to end the suffering in China? There are a few elements that, when taken collectively, provide a sufficient answer to this question. First, there are no government regulations in China that apply to fur farms. The problem isn’t that enforcement of standards is being neglected; the problem is that there are no standards to be enforced. As a result, “farmers can house and slaughter animals however they see fit” (4).

So what about passing legislation in the United States and other countries prohibiting participation in the fur trade with China? Or why can’t we simply boycott fur products made in China? Is that enough? The answer lies in the processing and labeling of the fur after it has been removed from the animal.

When it comes down to it, after it has been processed, it is very difficult to distinguish one type of animal fur from any other. Dog and cat fur is passed off not only as fox or mink fur, but also as fake or synthetic fur. Additionally, the labels inside clothing that break down the garment’s material are not necessarily accurate. When have you ever seen a label claiming the material is made from dog or cat fur? Never. That doesn’t happen. Fur traders have said that “any label could be put in any garment or fur product, depending on the preference of the buyer” (7). If the buyer wants mink, and the supplier has cat, the supplier can easily claim that the cat fur is mink fur.
The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (COFT), based in the United Kingdom, lists some common label changes for both cat and dog fur that make it easy to get the fur into countries such as the United States.
Cats: house cat, wild cat, Katzenfelle, Goyangi, mountain cat
Dog fur: gae-wolf, goupee, or sobaki
Dog skin: skin, lamb skin or mountain goat skin (7)

Until the recent passage of The Truth in Labeling Act, labels were not even required on fur garments that cost less than $150 in the United States, and many garments made from dog or cat fur often sell for less than that amount (7). And because of globalization, “it [is] impossible to know where fur products come from” (5). Just because a garment’s tag claims it was made in Europe does not mean that the products used to make the garment (such as fur) were not processed in another country such as China. Even though the United States does not kill cats and dogs for fur, the United States still imports fur from countries lacking strict animal rights laws (6).

I am not trying to discourage people from writing letters to state representatives, or distributing informational pamphlets; on the contrary, I want to encourage people to take action and become a part of the community effort. This problem is time-sensitive. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) claims that 2 million domestic animals are tortured and killed annually, all in the name of fur, and approximately 24 cats, or 12 dogs, are required to make a fur coat (7). Wang Ye, the secretary of the China Fur and Leather Products Fair, stated that business in the industry is “expected to pick up 20 percent this year [2010]” (8). I want people everywhere to join together so that this prediction does not come true.

Even though I’m limiting this discussion to fur farms in China, I hope you can apply this message to other animals and other situations. As I said, the scope of the fur industry is massive, and I have only managed to touch on a small part of it. Just because I haven’t mentioned animals that get caught in steel traps where they suffer for days on end, or the other types of animals that are tortured and killed for their fur (such as rabbits, chinchillas, hamsters, and others) doesn’t mean the issues do not exist. I hope that you take what you have learned here and apply it globally to all fur products, regardless of the products' label.
I also want to avoid representing only one side of an issue. The Fur Commission of the United States is an NPO that represents over 300 mink farmers in the United States. In order to be certified by the Fur Commision, the following standards must be met on the farm (9):

- vigilant attention to nutritional needs
- clean, safe, and appropriate housing
- prompt veterinary care- consideration for the animals' disposition and reproductive needs
- elimination of outside stress

On a certain level, I appreciate the guidelines. I can't imagine that the mink farms certified under these standards would be nearly as awful as the fur farms in China. On the other hand, these five points seem rather vague. I have no further information on the quality of farms such as these, but I am hesitant to regard them as humane. For more information, you can visit the Fur Commission website: http://www.furcommission.com/I cannot officially speak on the quality of the farms under the Fur Commission, or any others in the United States, but I can say, with ample evidence to back it up, that the fur farms in China are far below acceptable moral standards of treatment and care.

Below is a very graphic video of the abuse that was and still is occurring on Chinese fur farms. I barely made it through the first 10-15 seconds before I could no longer handle the footage.


Pledge to go fur-free at PETA.org.


So what can you do to become part of and increase the community resistance to Chinese fur farms?
Stop Buying Fur, real or fake - doing so will result in a visible decrease in market demand
Celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Eva Mendes have made public their feelings against the fur industry


Eva Mendes Fur Trade Exposé
-
Donate any and all fur garments you have to PETA:“Because of the vast number of furs that we receive, we donate many of them to homeless people who can't afford to buy their own coats—the only people who have any excuse to wear fur. Every year, PETA holds a few "fur kitchens" at homeless shelters around the country, and we've even shipped hundreds of furs to help warm the women and children freezing in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Your donation will be tax deductible. Clean your closet by simply mailing unwanted furs to:
Attn.: Fur CampaignPETA
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
-
Carry around informational pamphlets that you can nicely hand out the next time you spot someone donning fur products. This is a link to a pamphlet you can download for free at PETA.org, though I’m in the process of creating my own pamphlet that I consider to be less offensive and more educational
http://petaliterature.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SKN101
(No one likes to receive information that the reader believes insults his or her way of life - rather than distribute a pamphlet that tells people how to live, I merely want to inform, as I hope I am doing with this blog, and the person can then make a decision for him/her self). Pamphlets are great because they can be passed out anywhere at any time, they can be stuffed into envelopes with bills, and stacks of them can be left at businesses or other locations that permit pamphlets.
-
Make monetary donations to organizations such as PETA, HSUS, or CAFT

Write! Write to newspapers, television and radio stations, department stores and catalogs that sell fur, politicians, and anyone else you can think of to encourage awareness and stronger legislation!
-
Demonstrate or discontinue shopping at stores that purchase fur produced in China - Mainstream businesses in particular are aware of strong social sentiment, and are easily according to people’s perceptions. J.C. Penney, Burlington Coat Factory, Bloomingdale's, Sak's Fifth Avenue and Macy's have all been cited for selling fur products produced from China, sometimes labeling them as "faux fur" or raccoon when the actual product is from a raccoon dog (2). Burlington Coat Factory got busted for selling a coat labeled as “Mongolia Dog Fur” that ended up being German Shepherd fur. As a result of the social fuss created from this discovery, “Burlington Coat Factory removed all domestic cat and dog fur items and donated $100,000 to the HSUS,” demonstrating the concern companies have about this type of exposure (7).
-
Write a letter to the Chinese ambassador encouraging China to enact an animal welfare law that will stop the cruel handling of dogs, cats, and other animals at markets and during transportation:
His Excellency Zhou Wenzhong
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
202-328-2574
202-328-2582 (fax)
-
Take a pledge to never again wear fur:
http://www.furisdead.com/pledge-furfree.asp?c=chfrplg


Cited websites:
1. http://www.acscct.org/
2. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72879
3. http://www.furisdead.com/feat-dogcatfur.asp
4. http://www.peta.org/feat/ChineseFurFarms/
5. http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=56
6. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/fur_production/
7. http://www.caft.org.uk/factsheets/cats-and-dogs.html
8. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-01/14/content_9322109.htm
9. http://www.furcommission.com/farming/index.html#Anchor-The-47857

Additional websites for further information:
Are you on facebook? The following links to a facebook page advocating against fur, with additional informational links:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6508771875&_fb_noscript=1

------------------------------------------------------