If fur is 'back in style' why is the fur industry dying?

Letter
April 1, 2004

Re: The fur is flying. Again, Arts & Life, March 30

We have been surprised with yet another pro-fur article in the Vancouver Sun. There is another side to this story if The Sun is willing to listen.

If fur is back, then one must note that fur is produced from killing fur-bearing animals. Yet the number of wild fur-bearing animals trapped for their pelts has been on an almost downhill slide since 1980.

In 1980, Canadian trappers sold 51/2 million pelts while the U.S. (the world's main trapping country) sold 26- to 28-million pelts.

In 2001, Canadian trappers sold fewer than one million pelts, while U.S. trappers sold about four million. Trappers have hung up their traps as the pelt values have plummeted.

If few fur-bearing animals are being trapped, then one must ask where is the fur coming from? Basically, only mink and some fox are cage-raised and there has been no sudden increase in the number of fur farms. Indeed, in the U.S. the number of fur farms has also plummeted, from 1,098 to 318 farms. Obviously, the fur industry as we have known it is dying, not flying.

The fur industry is desperately fighting for its survival. It is hiding the real look of fur by shearing off the long fur to produce shearling, dying it many colours or using the fur on the inside of coats so it won't be seen.

I doubt that the average Canadian would want to copy the dress styles of Beyonce, P. Diddy, Snoop Dogg or Jennifer Lopez. To claim fur is flying again because of this extremism is pure propaganda.

George V. Clements

Director, Fur-Bearer Defenders

Vancouver