Today's London Free Press has a good letter responding to the fur industry's recent promotional press release ----> London Free Press - Business - Consumers warm up to fur again

Fur trade dying; it’s time to let it go In his column, Consumers warm up to fur again (Feb. 21), P.J. Harston seems to be accepting everything the fur industry says as gospel.

The number of animals trapped in Canada in 1980 was more than five million. Today, and for the past few years, less than one million are trapped.

In the U.S., where most trapping is done, the comparable figures show a decline from about 26 million animals in 1980 to less than four million today. In many provinces in Canada, and some states, there has been an 85- to 90- per-cent decline because the public (Canada, U.S.A. and Europe) is aware of the cruelty and has stopped purchasing wild fur.

Because of the low pelt prices, most trappers have hung up their traps and found other income.

What Harston and the public are seeing as “fur” is mainly mink, dyed rabbit and faux fur. Mink is hardly fashionable in North America and is considered quite boring; people soon tire of the same old, same old.

Some new markets in China and Russia, however, have flourished as more and more people have experienced higher earnings and are buying mink never before available to them. They, too, will soon tire of mink.

Nearly two million beaver were trapped in Canada in 1980, now it is less than 200,000 animals, or just 10 per cent. The fur industry is dying — let it die.

George V. Clements
Director, Fur-Bearer Defenders
Vancouver, B.C.