Fur Is Natural ... and Environmentally Sound

Dear Ms. Norte:

Your Animal Rights Club is an interesting idea, as I support freedom of thoughts and association. However, freedom of thoughts and the expression of those thoughts should be founded on solid facts, not emotion.

The concept of animal rights states that we should not use animals for any human purposes, including food, clothing, entertainment, or medical research. If you want to be consistent in your thoughts, you may not eat or drink anything which is made from an animal life form: meat, poultry, eggs, fish, milk cheese, honey, bakery products using butter and eggs, marshmallows, and on and on. You may not have leather shoes, belts, purses, furs, and wool, attend circuses, rodeos, or keep pets. Furthermore, you should not use any medicines or cosmetics, which have been tested for safety using animals.

Now then, if you are concerned about animal welfare, that is a different issue. Some people abuse animals, pets, livestock, etc., and they should not. However, most farmers take excellent care of their animals because it is in their best economic interest to do so. Sick or abused animals do not produce a salable product.

If the planet Earth is going to be saved from destruction, we cannot rely on synthetic clothing for our future existence. The extraction of oil is killing the environment by the spilling of oil and the taking of the animals' habitat or home. The processing plants used to make artificial fibers pollute the air (acid rain and the depletion of ozone), streams and rivers and create toxic waste. The clothing (fake furs, nylons, rayons, and polyester) made from these synthetic products fill up our landfills and is not biodegradable.

As to the extinction of animals, the fur industry does not use any endangered or threatened species and will not in the future. Ninety-five percent of the mink used by the fur industry are farm-raised. They eat fresh by-products from the agricultural industry, which are not desired by humans but are loved by the mink. If it were not for the mink, these by-products would fill up our landfills, rivers, or be burned, none of which is environmentally sound. The animals are not tortured or otherwise abused during their lives, as this would not product a desirable pelt. The mink are killed by cool carbon monoxide. It is painless. The manure produced by the mink is spread on the mink rancher's farm and is a natural fertilizer, not oil-based and not polluting. The tanning of the mink uses salt and alum, which is put into the sewer system and welcomed by the sewage treatment plants because they help to break down the sewage. When natural finishes and low-impact dyes are used, the fur industry is one of the least polluting clothing industries.

To make a fur coat requires only cotton thread, electricity for the sewing machines and silk for the lining; no large polluting factories or large amounts of energy. The fur coat will last 40 years or more, thus requiring only one purchase in a lifetime. Thus fur can be restyled and reused from generation to generation. Finally, when it has finished its useful life, it biodegrades (rots) in six months, back to the earth from where it came.

In Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 3:21, God gave man use of animals for his benefit and put skins of animals on Adam and Eve. I think that using natural fibers is the way God intended us to live. They are renewable, sustainable, reusable, biodegradable and environmentally compatible. The use of animals has been Mother Nature's choice for one million years. I think it's the natural choice for one million more years. You are correct: there is only one world. I ask that you think about whether or not synthetics are the way of the future for this world rather than the agricultural products managed and used by man in a well thought-out, scientific manner.

I took the time to answer your letter because I feel you are smart enough to think through these long-term environmental questions. Perhaps one day you will be part of the "Natural Fibers Club." It will definitely be the only way of the future for the Planet Earth. I invite your Animal Rights Club to come to Schumacher Fur Company so I may show you our natural product and talk about our planet and what we can do for its future.

Thank you for your concern,

Mark Schumacher

Vice President, Schumacher Fur Company

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