Caged Fur The Inside Story

Fur farming is torture plain and simple. It is raising an innocent creature that feels to be killed. It has been proven they have been known to simply be poisoned with weed killer and their bodies convulse up to ten minutes before finally dying. More than thirty million animals worldwide are raised in cages and killed each year for their fur. Not only are cage raised animals killed inhumanely, but they suffer numerous physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of caging conditions. Eighty-five percent of the fur industry’s skins come from animals living captive on fur factory farms. These farms can hold thousands of animals, and the practices used to farm them is remarkably uniform around the globe. As with other intensive-confinement animal farms, the methods used on fur factory farms are designed to maximize profits, always at the expense of the animals.

Let's take a peek inside the caged life of animals inside Fur farms.

Essential Facts

The overwhelming majority of cage-raised fur bearing animals are minks. Foxes, sables, chinchillas, rabbits, raccoon dogs (also called finn-raccoons and tanukis), and fitches (ferrets) also are raised in cages. A small number of lynx, bobcats, nutrias, and martens are cage raised; these animals are more commonly trapped. Most caged fur-bearing animals are “harvested” during their first winter. Fur from cage-raised animals is also used as lining and trim. An astounding 90 percent of all cage-raised foxes become fur trim.

Intensive Confinement


Fur factory farm cages are often kept in open sheds that provide little to no protection from wind or harsh weather. Their fur alone is not enough to keep them warm in the winter, and in the summer, minks swelter because they have no water in which to cool themselves. When minks learn to shower themselves by pressing on their drinking water supply nipples, farmers will modify the nipples to cut off even this meager relief.

The terms fur farm and fur ranch are euphemisms invented by the fur industry for what really is the intensive confinement system of caged-fur facilities. At a typical facility, open-sided sheds contain several rows of small wire-mesh cages. The floors also are wire so that feces can fall to the ground. Cages are adjacent to each other, and the animals are in plain view of one another. This is stressful for minks, who are naturally solitary, and for foxes, who have complex social hierarchies. Cages leave the animals little room for moving around: mink cages are about two-and-a-half feet long, a foot wide, and a foot high; fox cages are about a foot wider and six inches higher.

(Some facilities use uncovered, free-standing cages for foxes that expose the animals to wind, rain, and sun.) Water is provided by an automated system, and food (a mixture of ground-up animal remains, including minks) is placed on top of the cage to fall through the wire mesh. Except for a nest box, the cages are empty. Foxes are provided with a nest box for only two to three months. Breeding animals can live in this cramped environment for six to eight years.

Behavioral Abnormalities

Intensive confinement makes natural activities like swimming, climbing, digging, and traveling long distances impossible. Cage-raised minks commonly suffer obsessive- compulsive stereotypic behaviors: pacing, self-mutilation, and cannibalism are induced by chronic stress, boredom, frustration, deprivation, and an inability to adapt to surroundings. Repetitive behaviors include head bobbing, head twirling, swaying, and biting the wire-mesh caging, in addition to pacing. Pelt biting and tail biting are also common behaviors prompted by confinement. Foxes are particularly unsuited for cage raising: they are extremely fearful of humans and generally anxious in the typical caging environment. They tremble, defecate, and withdraw to the back of their cages. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of female foxes, or vixen, kill their offspring. Many vixen fail to reproduce at all.

Maybe you don't know that a Mink is a semi-aquatic animal. In the wild they spend the majority of their day swimming however they're kept in cages that are at the most 10x24. They are an active animal and be caged causes neurotic behavior. They have stomach ulcers from stress and bite their tails as self mutilation. These sweet animals never have the ability to swim and denying them water to cool off causes at least 10% to die from heat related disease.

Physical Abnormalities

Caged fur-bearing animals are commonly inbred for specific colors (sapphire, gun metal, and pastel, for example). Inbreeding can lead to deafness, crippling, deformed sex organs, screw necks, anemia, sterility, and disturbances of the nervous system. Inbreeding for dark and black minks has been so intensive that these animals are prone to excessive bleeding and are highly susceptible to infectious diseases. Artificial manipulation (the use of hormones, altering the amount of daylight) to accelerate breeding and reduce the length of pregnancy is routine in caged-fur facilities.

Methods of Killing

Caged fur-bearing animals are killed by inhumane methods such as gassing, neck breaking, anal electrocution, and injection with poisons. The U.S. fur industry recommends killing minks with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide gas. Carbon monoxide gas (CO) is commonly channeled from the exhaust of a truck or tractor engine and piped into an enclosed box containing the minks. The hot unfiltered gas burns the eyes and lungs of the animals, causing a painful death. Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) also causes minks to die in misery. As diving animals accustomed to holding their breath, minks have an increased tolerance for high CO2 levels, so their painful deaths are protracted. Some fur producers prefer to kill small fur-bearing animals by twisting the animal’s neck until it breaks (cervical dislocation), on the theory that gassing discolors the pelt.

A common method of killing foxes is anal electrocution. One electrode is inserted into the anus while the animal bites down on a second electrode; a lethal dose of electricity is then passed through the body. Again, this technique is employed to avoid damaging the pelt. Other fur producers inject minks and foxes with cheap chemicals and common pesticides, often diluted with rubbing alcohol to save money.

Environmental Consequences

Contrary to fur-industry propaganda, fur production destroys the environment. The energy needed to produce a real fur coat from ranch-raised animal skins is approximately 20 times that needed for a fake fur. Nor does fur bio-degrade, thanks to the chemical treatment applied to stop the fur from rotting. The process of using these chemicals is also dangerous as it can cause water contamination.

About 44 pounds of feces are excreted per mink skinned by fur farmers. Based on the total number of minks skinned in the U.S. in 1999, which was 2.81 million, mink factory farms generate approximately 62,000 tons of manure per year. One result is nearly 1,000 tons of phosphorus, which wreaks havoc in water ecosystems.

Because many animals are housed in a small area, caged-fur facilities contribute to environmental contamination. As animal waste falls to the ground through the cage floors, it is washed by the rain into nearby streams and lakes. The excessive nutrients contained in the animal waste can also soak into the soil and contaminate groundwater. Unnaturally high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen cause increased algae growth and can kill trees. While waste runoff from intensive confinement of chickens and pigs has been identified as an environmental problem, the environmental effects of fur facilities in the United States have not been adequately researched. Officials in Finland, where 50 percent of the world’s foxes and 10 percent of the world’s minks are produced, have recognized the problem since the early 1980s.

Source

"The basis of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule: we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species in our dominant position."

Edited to correct tags.

[edit on 27-2-2010 by December_Rain]

reply to post by December_Rain


They should make any useless abuse punishable With the same abuse !

I can't stand it.

[edit on 27/2/10 by Sinter Klaas]

reply to post by December_Rain


A very good,highly emotional thread.I have never
wanted a fur coat and this thread explains why.
I'll take a faux fur coat anytime.

This is one of the saddest things I have ever came across.

The things people would do for a buck.

Thank you for your replies. I had a very hard time even making this thread and had to read each line. It hurted me lot reading all this but I wanted to share it with everyone.

If you want to find more about "fur farms" just type it in google images and search. or just click this link.

If even few people don’t buy clothing made of fur, lined with fur, or trimmed with fur. Don’t buy fur toys or fur decorations it would be worth it. There is lot one can do if willing

* Share the information on this page with your family, friends, and coworkers. Tell them how you feel about fur from caged animals.
* Urge your elected representatives to outlaw caged-fur facilities. Also urge your elected officials to support truth in advertising for fur apparel by requiring labels stating how fur animals are caged, trapped, and killed to be affixed to each fur item.

[edit on 27-2-2010 by December_Rain]

Did God not give animal skins to Adam and Eve?
Fur coats are warm.
Are you upset about leather coats to?
I think it is a sin to be cruel to animals.
To take life like they do is not good for the soul.
I wonder how good they sleep at nite.
Sometimes I feel sad for mankind sigh.

Watch this video and you will see the most disturbing, vile, filth of humanity you could ever witness. I can't bring myself to watch it again. I was crying by the end of it and I'm hardly the one to cry. Words cannot describe the visceral hate and disgust. I could murder people that treat animals this way.

VERY VERY SHOCKING! ANimals are bein skinned alive!
www.peta.org...

Although I know PETA isn't the best organization on some issues they have a leg to stand on.

This among with gross human rights abuses are why I hate many aspects about China and most of all their disgusting culture. Tiger penises, shark fin soup, fur trade etc.

[edit on 27-2-2010 by Zosynspiracy]