Caged Fur—The Inside Story How Do Fur Animals Die Warning! Brochure the Decline of the Fur Fashion Industry

FACT SHEET

Caged Fur The Inside Story HSUS/FRANTZ DANTZLER

ore than thirty million animals world- raised; these animals are more commonly M wide are raised in cages and killed trapped. Most caged fur-bearing animals are each year for their fur. Not only are cage- “harvested” during their first winter. Cages leave the raised animals killed inhumanely, but they animals little room for suffer numerous physical and behavioral The United States produces about 10 percent moving around: mink abnormalities induced by the stress of caging of the cage-raised fur in the world; 60 to 75 cages are about conditions. The Humane Society of the United percent of the fur in coats sold in the United two-and-a-half feet States (HSUS) is strongly opposed to raising States comes from cage-raised animals. Fur long, a foot wide, and animals in cages and killing them for fur from cage-raised animals is also used as lining a foot high; fox cages apparel and accessories. Synthetic fabrics and trim. An astounding 90 percent of all are about a foot wider that are warmer and lighter than fur have cage-raised foxes become fur trim. and six inches higher. eliminated the need for fur apparel. Intensive Confinement SHORT LIVES, PAINFUL DEATHS The terms fur farm and fur ranch are euphemisms invented by the fur industry for what really is Essential Facts the intensive confinement system of caged-fur The overwhelming major- facilities. At a typical facility, open-sided ity of cage-raised fur- sheds contain several rows of small wire-mesh bearing animals are minks. cages. The floors also are wire so that feces Foxes, sables, chinchillas, can fall to the ground. Cages are adjacent to rabbits, raccoon dogs each other, and the animals are in plain view (also called finnraccoons of one another. This is stressful for minks, who and tanukis), and fitches are naturally solitary, and for foxes, who have (ferrets) also are raised in complex social hierarchies. Cages leave the cages. A small number of animals little room for moving around: lynx, bobcats, nutrias, mink cages are about two-and-a-half feet

HSUS/FRANTZ DANTZLER and martens are cage long, a foot wide, and a foot high; fox cages are about a foot wider and six inches higher. Instead of providing better living conditions or (Some facilities use uncovered, free-standing realizing that foxes should not be raised in cages for foxes that expose the animals to wind, cages at all, fox producers are attempting to rain, and sun.) Water is provided by an automat- breed animals with less anxiety. ed system, and food (a mixture of ground-up animal remains, including minks) is placed on top Physical Abnormalities of the cage to fall through the wire mesh. Except for a nest box, the cages are empty. Foxes are Caged fur-bearing animals are commonly inbred provided with a nest box for only two to three for specific colors (sapphire, gunmetal, and pas- tel, for example). Inbreeding can lead to deaf- An estimated 250,000 months. Breeding animals can live in this ness, crippling, deformed sex organs, screw necks, chinchillas are killed each cramped environment for six to eight years. year by the international anemia, sterility, and disturbances of the ner- fur fashion industry. vous system. Inbreeding for dark and black Behavioral minks has been so intensive that these animals Abnormalities are prone to excessive bleeding and are highly Intensive confinement susceptible to infectious diseases. Artificial ma- makes natural activi- nipulation (the use of hormones, altering the ties like swimming, amount of daylight) to accelerate breeding and climbing, digging, and reduce the length of pregnancy is routine in traveling long dis- caged-fur facilities. tances impossible. Cage-raised minks Methods of Killing commonly suffer obsessive-compulsive Caged fur-bearing animals are killed by inhu- stereotypic behaviors: mane methods such as gassing, neck breaking, pacing, self-mutilation, anal electrocution, and injection with poisons. and cannibalism are induced by chronic The U.S. fur industry recommends killing minks stress, boredom, frus- with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide gas. Carbon monoxide gas (CO) is commonly chan-

HSUS/ERIC SAKACH tration, deprivation, and an inability to neled from the exhaust of a truck or tractor en- adapt to surroundings. Repetitive behaviors in- gine and piped into an enclosed box containing clude head bobbing, head twirling, swaying, and the minks. The hot unfiltered gas burns the eyes biting the wire-mesh caging, in addition to pac- and lungs of the animals, causing a painful ing. Pelt biting and tail biting are also common death. Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) also causes behaviors prompted by confinement. minks to die in misery. As diving animals accus- Cage-raised minks tomed to holding their commonly suffer Foxes are particularly unsuited for cage raising: breath, minks have an in- obsessive-compulsive they are extremely fearful of humans and gener- creased tolerance for high stereotypic ally anxious in the typical caging environment. CO2 levels, so their painful behaviors like pacing, They tremble, defecate, and withdraw to the deaths are protracted. self-mutilation, and back of their cages. They may attempt to bite cannibalism. when handled. (Handling involves holding the Some fur producers pre- fox by the neck with tongs and grabbing the fer to kill small fur-bearing tail.) An estimated 10 to 20 percent of female animals by twisting the foxes, or vixen, kill their offspring. Many vixen animal’s neck until it fail to reproduce at all. Infanticide and injury of breaks (cervical disloca- kits are the results of disturbing the natural so- tion), on the theory that cial hierarchy, an inevitable consequence of gassing discolors the pelt. caging. Early and daily contact with humans would decrease foxes’ fear, but this is impractical A common method of

and therefore not practiced at larger facilities. killing foxes is anal elec- HSUS/FRANTZ DANTZLER trocution. One electrode is inserted into the anus can also soak into the soil while the animal bites down on a second elec- and contaminate ground- trode; a lethal dose of electricity is then passed water. Unnaturally high through the body. Again, this technique is em- levels of phosphorus and ployed to avoid damaging the pelt. nitrogen cause increased al- gae growth and can kill Other fur producers inject minks and foxes with trees. While waste runoff cheap chemicals and common pesticides, often from intensive confinement diluted with rubbing alcohol to save money. of chickens and pigs has been Sodium pentobarbital, used for euthanasia identified as an environmen- by veterinarians and animal shelters, is a legally tal problem, the environmen- controlled substance and must be administered tal effects of fur facilities in by a veterinarian or other licensed profession- the United States have not al. Due to the high costs associated with its been adequately researched. use, sodium pentobarbital is rarely used for Officials in Finland, where killing caged fur-bearing animals. 50 percent of the world’s foxes and 10 percent of the The animals are killed just after their first winter world’s minks are produced, coat grows in, at seven to ten months of age. At have recognized the prob- this time, their fur is in prime condition because lem since the early 1980s. it has not yet been marred by confinement in a small cage. The fur industry claims, on the other HSUS/ERIC SAKACH Lack of Regulation hand, that a quality pelt is a sign of a well-cared- As long as the bottom for animal. There are no laws regulating the keeping or line is economic, animals killing of cage-raised fur-bearing animals in the will be housed, handled, United States. In what appears to be a public re- and killed in the cheapest OTHER PROBLEMS WITH THE lations ploy, the U.S. fur industry has devised its ways possible. CAGED-FUR INDUSTRY own guidelines for the “humane” care of minks and foxes; however, these are strictly voluntary Environmental Consequences and compliance is not monitored. Without objec- Because many animals are housed in a small tive outside oversight, the humane care of caged area, caged-fur facilities contribute to environ- fur-bearing animals cannot be ensured. As long mental contamination. As animal waste falls to as the bottom line is economic, animals the ground through the cage floors, it is washed will be housed, handled, and killed in by the rain into nearby streams and lakes. The the cheapest ways possible. Because many excessive nutrients contained in the animal waste animals are housed in a small area, caged-fur YOU CAN HELP facilities contribute Don’t buy clothing made of fur, lined with fur, to environmental or trimmed with fur. Don’t buy fur toys or fur contamination. decorations. Share the information on these pages with your family, friends, and coworkers. Tell them that caged fur is cruel. 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. Fur-Free Century is a consumer-driven, activist-oriented campaign designed to bring an end to the use of animal fur in the new century.

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