A woman I know recently asked me where she could donate a fur collar. She just got a coat with such and did not want it on there. I contacted Urban Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitation, NYC's great wildlife rehabilitation group for the furry NYC residents, from squirrels to opossums. Adair Moran of UUWR said they had enough right now but pointed me in the direction of Coats For Cubs. There is a fur drive titled Coats For Cubs happening at the Buffalo Exchange vintage shoppes. First, let's back up and talk about why one would want to rid themselves of fur. As the saying goes, "Wear your own skin!" The fur trade is a death trade. Everyone feels differently but personally if you are wearing a piece from a vintage or thrift store I have no problem with that. What's done is done & I don't believe in wasting. But that is not a green light to go on with an unethical practice. If you are purchasing new fur or anything with fur trim-from a hat with a pom pom to a collar to one of those stupid looking tails, you're making a grave error. You do not need that fur. The animal(s) the fur came from do. The bloodshed list is long with fur. An animal raised for fur leads a miserable life. Poor food, exposure, crowding, mishandling, you can forget medical attention, mental anguish. All leading up to probable electrocution and a very realistic possibly of being skinned alive. A trapped animal fares an equally disturbing end. Broken bones, limbs chewed off, potential death by exposure, starvation, eaten by other predators. If this were a mother animal out looking for food and trapped, her babies are sure to die. And let's not forget the countless amount of dogs stolen, whether it be from the streets or their own homes. They too are killed for their fur which is then imported into the United States. Now if you purchased a new item with fur, or you possess a vintage item with fur and you are uncomfortable owning it, what to do? How to try to right a wrong? Wildlife rehabbers use furs to create environments for animals, especially baby animals, under their care. By donating your fur you may think of it as symbolically putting life back into the world that was wrongly snatched from it. I want to reiterate this is not some sort of loophole to continue buying items with fur trim and saying it's ok because you're going to donate the collar. This is, I made a mistake, it's not going to happen again, now what do I do with this? Info about the Coats For Cubs drive and Buffalo Exchange locations: https://coatsforcubs.com/ -Not near a Buffalo Exchange? Contact them & see if you can mail your fur to them. -Know me personally and unable to get to Buffalo Exchange? I will take it there for you. -Know of a wildlife rehabilitation group in your area? Contact them & see if they would be interested in you doing a fur drive for them. -Participated in the Coats For Cubs fur drive? Created your own fur drive? Have had a change of mind and heart about fur? Write to me! Information about wildlife rehabilitation: Urban Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitation: http://www.urbanutopiawildlife.org/ Some resources on the fur trade: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/ http://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-farming/ Why is this more important now than ever? Since Trump has taken office, the USDA removed public access to tens of thousands of reports that focused on animal welfare. These reports had lead to media recognition & exposure and in turn the crackdown of animal abuse. People who actively protest the fur industry really try to drive home just because this suffering is not happening in front of your face, that doesn't make it any less real. The removal of potential public abuse reports pushes these animals to further invisibility. We have to take matters into our own hands to do in our hearts what we know to be correct. We need to go on our intuition & instinct and whether we have those animal neglect reports accessible or not, it's 101 to know causing harm to innocent beings is incorrect and I defy a person to say killing an animal for her fur to be anything but incorrect.
