Is it odd to be anti-fur but still eat meat/wear leather?

[eclectics]

It's such a personal choice with so many points of view, being hypocritical or not is a hard thing to argue. Me? I don't agree with killing a animal, even humanely, just for it's fur. In this day and age, it is totally obsolete as a way to keep warm. Hunting a animal for it's meat is a totally different thing. I have no issue with that as long as it's done with as little pain and suffering to the animal as possible and it is not done just for the sport of it. That's how it's done in the wild. One quick, clean stroke and it's over. We could go into the inhumane veal thing etc. but again, it's a personal choice. No animal raised for the food chain has a pleasant life as they might have had on the family farm. Let's face it. But if they are killed humanely with minimal pain, I don't have a issue with it.

 

[Maleficent13]

I don't wear fur because it gives me the creeps. I know I'm in the minority on that one, but it does. Especially the ones with the heads still attached. :shudder:

To answer the OP: I don't know. I guess I can see both sides.

 

[allie&mattsmom]

I also eat some meat, although like ducklite, I won't eat veal ( I didn't realize the conditions in which they were raised/slaughtered were inhumane but I just couldn't bring myself to eat a baby cow). I do like leather but am anti-fur. I don't eat much meat and must admit I've gotten grief from people about why I'm not a big meat eater but yet wear leather shoes/purses, etc. I've learn to just tune them out.

 

[pearlieq]

Honestly, yes it's a bit hypocritical. I AM NOT insulting you or saying you're a bad person, but yes, academically, what's the difference between eating an animal and wearing an animal? No one absolutely NEEDS to eat meat, so we're killing them because we want them. How is that different from killing an animal because we want their fur?

With all that being said, this isn't a perfect world and we're not perfect people. We're all doing the best we can. Good for you for not supporting fur--it's a step in the right direction. The world certainly wouldn't be any better of if you decided to start buying fur.

 

[Chicago526]

Honestly, yes it's a bit hypocritical. I AM NOT insulting you or saying you're a bad person, but yes, academically, what's the difference between eating an animal and wearing an animal? No one absolutely NEEDS to eat meat, so we're killing them because we want them. How is that different from killing an animal because we want their fur?

With all that being said, this isn't a perfect world and we're not perfect people. We're all doing the best we can. Good for you for not supporting fur--it's a step in the right direction. The world certainly wouldn't be any better of if you decided to start buying fur.

No insult taken! I enjoy all points of view. I posted this thread because I wasn't sure if my view was unique! To hear my co-worker talk, only vegitarians can be anti-fur, and I just wanted to see how other people felt about it.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I'm another anti-fur meat-eating leather-wearing hypocrite! I see nothing wrong with it, but then I've been told I am a bit "nontraditional."

 

[madgomez]

I wear fur - I don't see the distinction between killing an animal for one reason or for another. Both are for man's use. We could all live without meat as easily as we could live without leather or fur. There are plenty of vegetable sources of protein available. We really don't need to kill animals to eat their flesh. We do so because we WANT to. I think one of the reasons most people are OK with eating meat, but not wearing fur, is that by the time we "see" the meat, it no longer looks like an animal. Query how many of you would be so comfortable eating meat if you had to see the whole carcasses before they are butchered when purchasing it?

I disagree that animals raised for food are handled humanely and killed painlessly. I saw a recent show about the life of pigs being raised for slaughter - nothing humane about it. Did you know they cut the tails off when they are young without any sort of anesthesia? They showed it in the documentary and it was obvious the pig felt every bit of it. Similar "unnatural" things are done to other species used for food, mostly for the farmers convenience.

That being said, everyone is entitled to his own opinion. The only time I have ever accused someone of being hypocritical is when they made an uninvited comment about my fur coat while wearing their leather shoes.

My coat happens to be coyote fur. They are often considered predators and problems for the farmers, and are often shot just for simply trying to live naturally in the wild. I suspect that those raised for producing fur don't have any worse lives than that.

I eat meat, I use leather products, and I wear fur. OP, yes I find your position not so much hypocritical, but inconsistent. You and everyone else are entitled to that opinion. My only problem with it is when uninvited comments are made to me when wearing my coat. However, I think you handled your "situation" with not trying on someone's fur very graciously.

 

[Disneyrsh]

Well, minks are nasty, vicious little rodents (personal experience here!) and I wouldn't mind wearing a coat made of the little varmints. The conditions they are kept in are not particularly inhumane becuase the quality of the conditions they're kept in directly affect the quality of the skin/fur they produce. You don't eat minks because they're *mostly* fur. And very sharp teeth.

However, wearing fox or any cat-type animal that has been trapped, man, that's just some serious bad ju ju, puttin' on one of those coats. aw:

Everything dies, sooner or later. Some of the things I'm okay with eating/wearing. Some of the things, the way they died, um, no thanks, won't be letting that touch me.

Oh yeah, just to gross out the vegetarians-when you're drinking or eating anything that's labeled 'calcium fortified', you're probably ingesting ground up cow bones. Yummy!

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

You are not wrong - you are entitled to your personal opinion - whatever that may be!

I agree with the person who said no one is perfect - we are all just doing the best we can....have never agreed with the idea everyone has to take everything to the most extreme degree to be truly serious about a belief. I would never wear fur, eat seafood only occasionally (am veg for mostly health, not totally ethical reasons), buy non-leather alternatives where available and affordable - but don't sweat the occasional pair of leather shoes....again, we all do the best we can and any step in the right direction is good.

I think it is OK for someone to question you out of honest curiousity, but not as a putdown or in judgement!

 

[Sparx]

I eat very very very little meat. if the dr told me tomorrow that I could never eat meat again, It wouldn't phase me. I do wear a little leather (black leather belt, sorry but I like it). I am not at all against leather, but I am against fur. My reasoning. Leather comes from cows, along with meat. These cows WILL be killed anyways. To NOT use the skin seems like a waste. But fur comes from animals that wouldn't be killed if it wasn't for their fur. (I know rabbit and deer are the exception, but I am talking about mink). Fur looks alot better on a mink than it ever will on me.

 

[Planogirl]

I won't wear fur and it all comes from my dislike of trapping. I learned how fox and other wild animals are tortured for lengthy periods of time when they are snared in a trap and this totally turned me off. Fox fur is gorgeous but it would be a cold day in hell before I'd ever wear it.

As for mink and other animals raised for fur, I really don't know much about how they're killed but I don't particularly care for the look of the fur anyway.

 

[ducklite]

Well, minks are nasty, vicious little rodents (personal experience here!)

They are not rodents, they are mustelids. At least get the facts straight.

Anne

 

[ford family]

Leather comes from cows, along with meat. These cows WILL be killed anyways. To NOT use the skin seems like a waste. But fur comes from animals that wouldn't be killed if it wasn't for their fur. (I know rabbit and deer are the exception, but I am talking about mink). Fur looks alot better on a mink than it ever will on me.

Actually, if it wasn't for their fur the mink would never have been born, let alone died. Are you saying that no life at all is better than being raised in a fur farm?

As for the "leftover" meat from the fur farms, I thought it went into pet food.

ford family

 

[Chicago526]

Actually, if it wasn't for their fur the mink would never have been born, let alone died. Are you saying that no life at all is better than being raised in a fur farm?

As for the "leftover" meat from the fur farms, I thought it went into pet food.

ford family

I though mink lived in the wild, too? I could be wrong I'm no expert!

But you could make that arguement for beef cattle too! Afterall, we wouldn't use them for anything else, so if everyone became a non-leather wearing vegitarian tomorrow, farmers wouldn't bred them and eventaly they'd go extinct! Now, that's not an arguement to EAT meat, but just an interesting observation!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Actually, if it wasn't for their fur the mink would never have been born, let alone died. Are you saying that no life at all is better than being raised in a fur farm?

The absence of life is hardly anything to sweat. If we used that line of thinking, we should all have as many children as possible because by not having those children, the children who were not born are without life. Hmm, I think I've confused myself!

 

[ford family]

I though mink lived in the wild, too? I could be wrong I'm no expert!

But you could make that arguement for beef cattle too! Afterall, we wouldn't use them for anything else, so if everyone became a non-leather wearing vegitarian tomorrow, farmers wouldn't bred them and eventaly they'd go extinct!

I understand that fur coats are made predominately from farmed animals.

Your comment about beef cattle reinforces my point. Not killing an animal because you no longer want to eat it or use part of it for other purposes does not mean the animal will live a long and happy life in the wild. It means the animal will never be born.

It is the case with all domestic animals that their breed would not exist today without thousands of years of animal husbandry. Humans designed and created the animals they wanted and needed. When that need expires the breed becomes extinct.

ford family

 

[Chicago526]

I understand that fur coats are made predominately from farmed animals.

Your comment about beef cattle reinforces my point. Not killing an animal because you no longer want to eat it or use part of it for other purposes does not mean the animal will live a long and happy life in the wild. It means the animal will never be born.

It is the case with all domestic animals that their breed would not exist today without thousands of years of animal husbandry. Humans designed and created the animals they wanted and needed. When that need expires the breed becomes extinct.

ford family

Don't get me wrong, it's not my reasoning for EATING meat. I eat meat because it tastes good and humans are designed to eat a certain amount of it, so I have no moral problem with doing so. I was just making an observation!

 

[VSL]

To think that animals raised for meat are treated humanely isn't quite true.

I know PETA are the extreme end of the spectrum, but they have footage of cows being castrated with no anisthetic (sp?!), and the footage of how KFC 'cares' for their chickens is horrifying.

I'm working hard at becoming a vegetarian, but I think the answer is more to support those farmers who do treat their animals better rather than buying from mass-producing/selling places.

Anyway, fur?
Well, if it's in a cold climate where the people consume the meat and use the fur because they really do need it for warmth (and slaughter the animal themselves), OK.
For fashion? Big no.

But, let's be honest, no matter what we 'consume' (eat or wear) in the Western world, someone is suffering somewhere.

It's so sad when you think about it.

 

[eclectics]

Actually, if it wasn't for their fur the mink would never have been born, let alone died. Are you saying that no life at all is better than being raised in a fur farm?

As for the "leftover" meat from the fur farms, I thought it went into pet food.

ford family

The mink is a wild creature, in the weasel family, I think. They do not all live in breeding farms. Plenty of them still out there and they are in no danger of becoming extinct in the wild. I am confused by the point you are trying to make.

 

[ford family]

The mink is a wild creature, in the weasel family, I think. They do not all live in breeding farms. Plenty of them still out there and they are in no danger of becoming extinct in the wild. I am confused by the point you are trying to make.

Sorry. I know there are mink in the wild but fur coats are generally made from farmed fur.
A poster said it was ok to use leather because the cattle were going to be killed anyway for their meat whereas the mink wouldn't be killed if we didn't use their fur. The point I was making was that the logic was false because if we didn't use fur we would not breed the mink in the first place. So, rather than being killed for its fur it would not be born.


ford family