Make compassion the fashion

The holiday season is upon us once again, and during this time of giving, people usually buy gifts for their friends and family. Here I would like to encourage shoppers to think about the suffering of raccoons, foxes, rabbits and mink that accompanies clothing made of fur and fur trim. These animals have the same capacity to experience pain as the domesticated cats and dogs that are a part of our everyday lives.

Annually, more than 50 million animals are killed by the fur industry through a variety of horrific methods that include neck-breaking, drowning, suffocation with carbon monoxide and anal and vaginal electrocution. With all of the synthetic fibers readily available, there is no morally defensible reason for this to continue.

If you truly care about animals, then please empower yourself to make conscious choices – choices that spare others suffering that can be totally averted. Furthermore, make a fur-free holiday shopping season the first step to a cruelty-free lifestyle. If you would like to learn more, then please check out www.furkills.org, and if you would like get active for the animals, then contact the Animal Defense League http://chicago.animaldefense.info/.

John A. Duerk,
Doctoral student, political science
Animal Defense League, Chicago

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