July means Paris Fashion Week, and our friends at FurInsider.com did us all proud with six installments of commentary and glamorous pics of haute couture. Fur was plentiful, and hardly seems to raise an eyebrow these days – which is a good thing! Enjoy also Vogue‘s coverage of Fendi’s haute fourrure show. Also abuzz with fur were the catwalks at FashionClash in the Netherlands.

And fur fashion has received some boosts from less-expected sources. Selfies of people in real fur are booming on Instagram, and UFC brawler Conor McGregor is a big fan of mink. Let’s hope he wears this outfit when he battles boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Aug. 26!

Still on fashion, we published a blog post on the fur policy at Net-A-Porter. This on-line fashion retailer sells a lot of animal products (leather, suede, shearling, etc.), but – hypocritically, we say – not fur. PETA put the word out like it’s a major shift in policy, but it’s not. It hasn’t sold fur for years.

On the down side, former “supermodel” Gisele Bündchen has chosen to endorse petrochemical fur over the real deal. “All great designers now do beautiful #fakefur,” she wrote on Instagram, even though it’s patently untrue.

Trapping Know-How

It’s the quiet season for trappers, so it’s good there’s been no shortage of reading material. A must-read for Canadian trappers is the latest list of certified traps from the Fur Institute of Canada.

The Live Free & Trap blog, out of New Hampshire, produced a magnum opus, “Rise of the dumpster cats“, on the state’s growing bobcat population and the conflict it’s creating. And talking of bobcats, a controversial new report says management doesn’t take sufficient account of bobcats’ value to ecotourism. A dissenting biologist says: “Just because somebody traps a bobcat doesn’t mean that the particular bobcat was a bobcat that was going to be viewed by a tourist …”

Bears are in the news too, with animal rights groups all in a flap over the delisting of grizzly bears in Yellowstone. On July 31, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho assumed primary responsibility for their grizzlies from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Duluth News Tribune told us how researchers use foothold traps to monitor wolves (see above), and Trapping Today explained why the prices of furbearers vary not only by size and species, but also where they were trapped.

History buffs should eagerly anticipate the story of Hugh Kroetsch, employee of Hudson’s Bay Company back in the 1950s, in an upcoming documentary called Last of the Fur Traders. And if you really want to get down and dirty, you might want to go rendezvous camping. Here’s how to get started.

In local news: dog walkers in Erie, Pennsylvania have learned why it’s not a great idea to feed coyotes; in Alberta, coyotes have been found with a tapeworm that is deadly to humans if untreated; and marten may be making a come-back in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Fur Farming News

Fans of facts will want to check out the latest annual report on mink farming from the US Department of Agriculture.

We hope you will also learn from our blog post “Versatile mink oil: An under-appreciated resource”. As chance would have it, there was also an excellent piece on how a mink farmer in Iceland uses his oil. Mink oil cosmetics were once all the rage. Is it time for a comeback?

In decidedly bad news, animal rights terrorists are presumed to be behind the release of 30,000+ mink from a farm in Minnesota. Thousands of the animals “freed” in this misguided act died shortly after. The reward for information leading to arrests now stands at $11,000.

Bits ‘n’ Bobs

We’re always saying there’s no contradiction in being an animal lover and a fur lover, and Aussie “socialite” Shane Pavlinovich certainly agrees! The “eccentric jewellery designer” loves vintage and ethically sourced fur hats, coats and scarves, teamed with “extravagant pearl necklaces”.

And let’s wrap up with a story that seems like a bit of fun but is actually not funny at all. Wildlife photographer Dave Slater is in a legal battle over some selfie pics taken with his camera by some macaque monkeys. We’d share one of the amazing pics, but it’s all about copyright. Of course, PETA’s involved!