Fur belongs on animals’ backs, not on your coat,(Whitehorse Star, March 5, 2010)
The trapping/killing season can never end too soon!
The Environment Yukon website says: “The Yukon is home to fourteen species of furbearing mammals that are trapped for their fur: beaver, coyote, fisher, coloured fox, Arctic fox, lynx, marten, mink, muskrat, otter, squirrel, weasel, wolf and wolverine.” Leghold traps, snares and body-crushing conibear kill traps are used to destroy the lives of these animals for their fur!
The proponents of the trapping industry would like the general public to believe that the trapping and killing of wild animals is “humane”, “green”, “sustainable”, etc., and that trapping aids in the health of wildlife. These specific animals are trapped not because there are too many or diseased; they are killed for their healthy, thick fur (from healthy animals, not sick).
Destroying the lives of healthy wildlife for fashion is not “humane”, it is cruel and unnecesary.
Traps are not selective; they can and do pose a threat to non-target animals as well. An example of this is indicated in the Official Occurrence Report from the Department of Environment, recorded on Jan. 11/04 at 18:00 hours, where a dog was caught in a snare that was intended to strangle a wolf to death. This snare was placed by Yukon conservation officers. The department has never relayed this info to the public, nor has it answered to letters to the editor in the Star from me on this issue.
Removing (destroying) the lives of healthy wildlife from our eco-sytems is not sustainable, nor is killing healthy wildlife good for eco-systems.
Government and the fur industry refer to wildlife as “resources” to be exploited, and not for who they really are – sentient beings, living, breathing, feeling creatures that deserve to have their own lives to themselves. Stripping the fur from wildlife for fashion is never “humane”; it is cruel.
Please: don’t be fooled by the fur industry’s propaganda.They can spend millions of dollars on the greenwashing bandwagon; advertising does not change the brutal and inhumane reality of trapping.
Please boycott fur products.
Fur belongs to the rightful owners – the wildlife.
Mike Grieco
Whitehorse