I made a post about this like 7 years ago on therian amino because people kept buying tails then being horrified when they realized they bought something that came from a place where their theriotype lived in a cage its whole life until it was electrocuted to death for its fur.
There also used to be a ton of therian focused Etsy shops that claimed to sell “ethically harvested” real fur tails yet they would have literally dozens of tails for sale at a time. You aren’t finding hundreds of roadkill foxes and coyotes and tanning them and you certainly aren’t finding roadkill silver, cross, and platinum foxes lmao
Some of these shop owners even had the gall to say “I’m actually saving these tails from the landfill, they would have been thrown away by the garment industry if I didn’t personally pick them up!” As if all the tails they sell aren’t commercially tanned and bought in bulk from a site like GlacierWear.
If you want to wear and own real fur products please please please do the barest minimum amount of research and make sure you’re supporting a company/shop that aligns with your morals. If you are against trapping and fur farming you really shouldn’t own real fur tails since buying these tails directly supports those industries. Sellers will lie and say that real fur is faux fur to get your money so you have to learn how to spot the difference though pictures alone.
Here are some ways to tell if a tail is fake or real
Real tails have a lot of variation in tone across the whole tail and they look real. Fake tails tend to be one solid color or if they are multicolor that pattern is repeated consistently across the whole tail. They do make faux furs that are meant to resemble real fur but they cannot replicate the pattern changes that happen on different parts of a real tail.
Real coyote tail on left and fake coyote tail on right. See how the real tail has black on the tip and the fur is many different shades of grey and brown in different areas of the tail while the fake tail lacks the black tip and the pattern of brown and black fibers is consistent across the whole tail.
Also don’t assume that unnatural colors=fake tail, real fur can be dyed and often is. These are all real tails.
Real tails are flexible and tubular, you can easily fold them in half because there is nothing inside them.
Fake tails tend to be stiffer because they need stuffing inside to support them and they tend to be shaped in a slight S pattern instead of a straight tube.
Real tails on top and fake tails on bottom.
Real tails almost always either have a metal cap or a keychain style chain/clip to attach them to your belt/pants. Real tails are very light so they really don’t need more than this to support their weight.
Fake tails will either have elastic belt loops or a thick strap, fake tails are a lot of heavier than real tails so they need something sturdy to keep them on your pants.
Real tails on top and fake tails on bottom.
If you already have the tail and you are unsure if your tail is real or fake one easy way to tell is to try and open it. Real tails are just the tanned skin of the animal so there will be a split down the middle of the tail where the animal was skinned, if you part the fur there will be leather.
Fake tails are sewn so there will be no way to split the fur, you may even be able to see a seam across the whole length of the tail. A fake tail will also be squishy because it is full of stuffing while a real tail will just compress the hair if you squeeze it.
I hope this post is helpful for anyone looking to find gear without supporting fur farms and trappers. If you really want a real fur tail but you want to do it ethically you can always learn how to tan your own skins and then you just have to wait to find a coyote or fox that has been killed on the road (which is very common unfortunately). Make sure you look up the laws on harvesting furbearing animals in your state/country first though, you can get in legal trouble if you’re caught picking up an animal that is out of season or protected. For example where I live coyotes are unprotected all year, you can legally hunt or trap as many as you want as long as you have the proper permits but foxes are only legally harvestable from November through March. If anyone wants a post detailing how to start picking up roadkill and tanning the fur please let me know since I would be happy to make one.
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