Furs Still Are Needed Clothing – and Hardly ‘Frivolous’

FCUSA LETTER IN USA TODAY, DECEMBER 13, 1999
Furs Still Are Needed Clothing – and Hardly ‘Frivolous’
Fur Commission USA, representing more than 400 mink-farming families on more than 400 farms in 31 states, applauds USA Today for condemning the terrorists who mailed bomb threats to medical researchers. However, we are insulted by the paper’s labeling of furs as ”frivolous” (”Beastly behavior,” Editorial, Thursday).
Is clothing frivolous?
Isn’t cold-weather clothing from organic, renewable, recyclable sources, such as animal hides, the preferred choice?
Our U.S. fur farmers raise domesticated carnivores that annually recycle more than a billion pounds of byproducts from the fish, beef, poultry and dairy industries. This reduces food production waste while transforming it into clothing, fine oils, organic fertilizer and animal feed. Hardly a frivolous job.
Products made from wild animals support wildlife management programs that maintain a balance between animal populations and habitat, infusing value into wildlife so people live off the bounty of nature. Hardly frivolous. This is sustainable use, which is supported by every major environmental organization in the world.
Animal rights terrorists mailed death threats to researchers and to our farms – where children routinely fetch the mail. As with medical research facilities, terrorists have executed midnight raids on family fur farms, releasing domesticated animals to become road-kill. These terrorists have built incendiary devices and burned down our feed mills.
Fur farmers, and others who feed, clothe, shelter and cure society, condemn these illegal and reprehensible tactics.
Teresa Platt
Executive director
Fur Commission USA
Coronado, Calif.
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For further information contact Fur Commission USA.
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