Canada is celebrating its 150th anniversary of Confederation this year, and with it comes a lot of stories about Canadian… Read More
Canada is celebrating its 150th anniversary of Confederation this year, and with it comes a lot of stories about Canadian fur history. If you want to learn about how the country was founded on the fur trade, then check out our piece entitled The Country that Fur Built: Canada’s Fur Trade History (pictured above). Life on the Line is an excellent interactive piece about whether trapping is outdated or a part of living heritage. (We all know it's the latter.) Other articles about Canadian fur history include this story about a man who ran a Hudson's Bay store in the remote North and a profile on a fur trader from the 1800's. Some people are going beyond the typical Canada Day celebrations, like this guy, who is paddling from Banff to Montreal to reconnect with his Metis ancestry.
The thought of pizza makes us hungry, but how about pasta instead? One of our favourite Canadian chefs, Eric Pateman, has been cooking up a delicious seal Bolognese, and the Globe and Mail did a Q&A with Dion Dakins, who talks about whether seals are too cute to eat. Sealing is about more than sealers, of course, which is why we wrote about the other people involved in this trade. Since we are on the topic of wild meat, there's good news in Oregon where it has now been made legal to harvest roadkill.
Let's end with a few tips for summer
Need some new sandals? These fur ones by Zizi Donohoe (pictured above) were made for 7-Eleven.
Better watch out for bobcats, too, since their populations are rebounding after a decades-long hunting ban.
Need a coffee date this afternoon? If you are in San Francisco you might be able to have coffee with a rat. (Seriously.)
Want to keep the kids busy with a science experiment this summer? Try and replicate our fur burial experiment. It will teach them about biodegradation and the benefits of real fur!
Need a caddie for your golf game this summer? This furry guy has got you covered.
Undercover videos from animal rights groups came under attack last month for being dishonest and unfair. This is definitely not… Read More
Undercover videos from animal rights groups came under attack last month for being dishonest and unfair. This is definitely not news to any of us, but it is nice to see the media paying attention. This article questions why the undercover videos showing "poor" treatment of a dog on the movie set of A Dog's Purpose were not released until a year later, to coincide with the movie's release. Suspicious at best. This piece explored the concept that the activists are not interested in the truth about what goes on at farms, because they only release highly edited videos, which are not representative of the truth.
In other activist news, a woman in a dinosaur suit turned herself in for scaring the horses pulling carriages in New York. We still don't understand how scaring and harassing animals can be part of a campaign to protect them. Vice published an article exposing an FBI investigation into animal rights groups, and this piece looks at how veganism comes at a price. If you care about protecting the fur trade against animal rights activists, read our definitive guide on how you can take action to support the people of the fur industry.
Sealing Season Here Again
Sealing needs our support now as much as ever, writes Eugene Lapointe for Truth About Fur.
There were some great features on trapping last month of which these are our top three picks. Vice published a story of a woman who left the city to trap on her family's trap line. And there were two "a day in the life" pieces, one about tagging along with a beaver trapper and another following a Labrador trapper.
Fur's not just for winter, believe Amal Clooney, Bella Hadid and Jennifer Lopez.
Are you sad about putting your furs away for the summer? Vogue gave us some great tips on wearing fur for Spring (pictured). If you are shopping for new furs, then this shopping guide provides a great list of tips. Bad news if you were looking for a very particular, special vintage piece. The fur coat that was worn on the Titanic and then on a lifeboat already sold at auction, for a cool $80,000.
When you are shopping for your next Bentley, make sure it isn't one with mushroom leather seats (pictured). We think buying a car with vegan leather is a really fungi bad idea.
It’s seal hunt season and with that comes the onslaught of lies and propaganda surrounding the hunt. This article describes… Read More
It's seal hunt season and with that comes the onslaught of lies and propaganda surrounding the hunt. This article describes how PETA is hurting the Inuit with its anti-sealing campaign while this one covers the food insecurity faced by the Inuit (pictured above) because of the decline of the seal skin trade. But it is not all bad news for the seal hunters; the Norwegian hunt has renewed interest thanks to a documentary, Angry Inuk, the Inuit seal hunt, which is having a very positive impact. And the lies about the suffering of the animals during seal hunt season are being exposed by articles such as this.
Since we are on the topic of animal rights, let's see what activists have been up to in the last month. Foie gras protesters outside a restaurant in the UK haven't given up, even though their antics seem to have resulted in increased trade for the restaurant. PETA found itself locked out of a LVMH shareholder meeting (boohoo for them). This Member of Parliament in the UK, whose party advocates veganism, was caught eating fish and has had to issue an apology. And we loved this article exploring the issue of white privilege in the vegan movement. Our blog finally put pen to paper on the very important and often confused issue about the difference between animal welfare and animal rights philosophies. (We'll give you a hint: the first is great, the second isn't.)
There's a reason why furriers store furs in "vaults", though they don't really look like this anymore! Photo: Jack Lindsay, Vancouver, 1940s.
On the fashion front, this article does a good job explaining how a fur coat now represents status in menswear. Or you could just wear fur on your eyelids – mink, to be precise – as it is very popular in the world of eyelash extensions. If you are looking for some home decorating ideas, then look no further: this penthouse is practically covered in fur. Here's an important story for our vintage fur retailing readers: this store owner in San Francisco is being charged for selling endangered furs because she didn't realize that the laws changed last year. Speaking of old furs, here's how to make them last: store your furs properly (pictured above).
There's been no shortage of trapper features recently, and our picks include a feature on the Yankee trapper in Arkansas and this Yellowknife trapper following in his late father's footsteps. Since we are on the topic of tradition, read about Canada's trapping traditions here or learn about a new innovative fur product (pictured above) and the wonderful history behind it in this Truth About Fur guest blog post by Brenda Dragon. Good news for Northwest Territory trappers: the last set of auction results were very promising.
If you haven’t visited www.truthaboutfur.com for some time, you’re in for a pleasant surprise: North America’s premiere fur website has been… Read More
If you haven't visited www.truthaboutfur.com for some time, you're in for a pleasant surprise: North America's premiere fur website has been completely rebuilt to better answer the key questions that people are asking about the modern fur trade.
Truth About Fur was created to inform and reassure consumers, retailers, designers, teachers, journalists, political leaders, and anyone else interested in getting the facts about this remarkable heritage industry. Through expert interviews, media coverage, and in-depth articles, the Truth About Fur website is a fact-driven resource about the trade, hence the tagline All Facts, No Fiction.
In addition to a redesign, the website has new features and content aimed at dispelling myths about the trade and giving a human face to the people who work in it.
• The new Ethics of Fur section shows clearly that the modern fur trade satisfies the ethical criteria generally accepted by society as the basis for when and how we use animals.
• The life cycle of fur production is explained in detail in the section How Fur Is Produced.
• The Fur Family Album features both archival and submitted photography of the people who make up the trade, including trappers living off the land, third- and fourth-generation farmers, and highly skilled craftsmen.
• The Q&A section covers those questions most often asked about the trade, with responses from experts including veterinarians, trappers, farmers and biologists. Questions include: Is trapping humane? Are animals skinned alive for their fur? Does fur-dressing harm the environment? The main activist criticisms of the fur trade are also analyzed and refuted with facts.
• The blog features weekly articles covering a variety of topics including current issues affecting the trade, profiles and interviews with key players.
• Two new Chinese-language versions of the site are now available (in traditional and simplified characters), and a French-language version will be launched soon.
• Now mobile-compatible, the site will be easily accessed directly from our social media platforms, including our Facebook page which now has over 45,000 followers.
“For much too long, animal activists directed and dominated the public discussion about the ethics of using fur. With our completely re-engineered website and social-media platforms we are giving a voice to the real people of the fur trade,” says Alan Herscovici, Truth About Fur’s senior writer and researcher.
“We urge everyone in the trade to visit the new fur website, and to use this powerful new tool whenever questions about the environmental, animal-welfare or ethical justification of the fur trade are raised.”
TruthAboutFur.com is produced in cooperation with the main North American fur trade associations and auctions, and with support from the International Fur Federation (Americas).
At a time when we, as consumers, are being urged to “care for our planet” and make environmentally-responsible choices, we… Read More
At a time when we, as consumers, are being urged to “care for our planet” and make environmentally-responsible choices, we should take a closer look at wild furs. And the closer we look, the more impressive are the environmental benefits we see. While all the furs we use today are eco-logical, wild furs are to clothing what “organic”, “free-range”, and “100-mile-diet” are to dinner.
Here are 5 top reasons why wild furs are an excellent choice for anyone who wants to adopt a “greener” life-style:
1. Like all fur, wild-sourced pelts provide a naturally warm, lightweight, durable, and ultimately biodegradable clothing material. After all, fur evolved over millions of years to become one of the most effective insulators we know. And, of course, fur is also remarkably soft, comfortable and beautiful!
2. The wild furs we use today come from abundant populations, never from endangered species. Trapping is strictly controlled by state and provincial governments to ensure that we take only part of the surplus produced by nature. Most species produce more young each year than their habitat can support to maturity. We can use part of that “surplus” without depleting the population. In financial terms, it’s like living on the “interest” that nature provides, without depleting our “capital”. This is known to environmentalists as “the sustainable use of renewable natural resources”, a key conservation principle promoted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other conservation authorities.
Raccoons carry rabies into human populations, making control essential.
3. The populations of many furbearing species would have to be controlled even if we did not use the fur. Overpopulated beavers flood roads, fields, and forest habitat. Raccoon, coyote and fox populations must be controlled to protect sea turtle eggs, ground-nesting birds and other vulnerable or endangered species. Rapidly expanding coyote populations are also the number-one predator threat for sheep and cattle ranchers. Raccoons, foxes and skunks can carry rabies and other dangerous diseases into urban areas. When animals must be culled to protect property, to prevent the spread of disease, or for any other reason, it is more respectful to use them. Furthermore, without a market for fur, these management efforts would have to be financed by tax-payers.
4. More than 35 years of scientific research and trap testing ensure that the most humane possible methods are used to capture furbearing animals. In fact, government-regulated trapping now often helps to reduce suffering, by maintaining healthier and more stable populations of wildlife than would occur naturally. If humaneness is a concern, modern trapping techniques are generally preferable to disease, starvation, and the “boom-and-bust” cycles that are nature’s ways of pruning back overpopulated beavers, muskrats, and other species. While farm-raised fur animals receive excellent care, some people feel more comfortable knowing that the animals we use live freely in their natural state until the moment when they are captured. In this sense, wild fur is the ultimate “free-range” clothing material.
Vegreville, Alberta is home to the world’s first state-of-the-art trap research facility, established by the Fur Institute of Canada in partnership with the Alberta Research Council.
5. Many furbearing animals also provide food for aboriginal and other trappers and their families. Beavers and muskrats are important food sources for the Cree people of northern Canada. Raccoons, opossums, and other species are also eaten in many parts of North America. Animals that are not eaten by trappers and their families are returned to the bush where they feed mice, birds and other animals through the winter, when food is in short supply. Nothing is wasted.
Wild fur also provides important income for aboriginal and other people living in rural or remote regions where employment opportunities may be limited. Not least important: the income from wild fur depends upon maintaining natural habitat, and thus provides an incentive for maintaining wilderness areas. One of the unintended consequences of anti-fur campaigning is that, by eliminating markets (for sealskins, for example), they force aboriginal communities in northern Canada to open their territories to more oil and gas exploration, mining and other activities that can seriously disrupt wildlife and their habitat. In fact, trappers in many regions are working with government and industry to minimize the negative impacts of logging and other resource exploitation. For example, they lobby to maintain corridors and buffer zones of uncut timber around lakes and streams that wildlife depend upon, and they identify the nesting areas of eagles and other sensitive species so they can be protected. We all care about nature, but trappers are our eyes and ears on the land – the people who can sound the alarm when nature is threatened.
As this brief summary shows, wild fur is an excellent choice for anyone who cares about nature. Ironically, the “faux fur” and other synthetic textiles promoted by many “animal-rights” activists are usually made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. But because most people – and most media – are now in big cities, the trappers’ story is rarely heard.
F is for February, Fur and Fashion so let’s start this month’s roundup with some fur fashion news. We loved this… Read More
F is for February, Fur and Fashion so let's start this month's roundup with some fur fashion news. We loved this article about why Russian women love fur, and while there is certainly an element of glamour attached to fur coats, the message is overwhelmingly about warmth, something a fake fur will never be able to provide.
As well as being winter, it is also runway show season, and where there are fashion shows, there are furs. If you want a fashion update but aren't looking to buy new, check out our guide on recycling old fur coats, or if you want an option that is super low impact (pardon the pun) then why not look into roadkill furs? Our fur coat of the month was definitely this teen's seal skin parka. It looks great and we love the story behind it.
Humane Watch's Super Bowl ad exposed how the Humane Society spends more on lawyers than on animals.
In other animal rights news, activists are trying to get London Fashion Week to ban fur (unlikely to happen), the video depicting "abuse" on the set of A Dog's Purpose was proven to have been misleading, and we've found this great website exposing Trip Advisor, the travel reviews website, for working with PETA. They are refusing to let people book holiday activities that involve animals. Well, I guess we can all go to another website to plan our holidays, right?
Let’s start our January news roundup with a story that has warmed our hearts: the story of a pair of… Read More
Let's start our January news roundup with a story that has warmed our hearts: the story of a pair of fur farm vandals being jailed for their crimes. Nicole Kissane was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $423,477 in restitution, while her partner in crime is already serving a two-year sentence. Let this be a lesson to anyone planning on releasing mink and vandalizing fur farms!
Did you think that HSUS was "better" than PETA? Think again!
The time of year is approaching when the main thing on many people’s minds is trapping. But we aren’t just talking… Read More
Montana trapping is under threat. All sportsmen should pull together to protect this right.
The time of year is approaching when the main thing on many people's minds is trapping. But we aren't just talking about where and when to go trapping, or what to say to your boss if you want to skip work to go trapping. We're also talking about a very important Montana trapping ballot coming up on Nov. 8. If it passes, it will ban trapping on the state's public lands. Vote Clinton or vote Trump, that's your decision, but please make sure you vote NO on i-177. The campaign has been primarily funded by out-of-state animal rights groups. If they win this, they'll be one step closer to banning all trapping and hunting, and to their ultimate goal of making us all vegan. We're serious, that is their goal.
Other states are also considering the future of outdoor pursuits, notably Kansas which will soon be voting on whether fishing and hunting are a right or privilege.
Leah Remer, 10, shows off her plaque from the Minnesota Trappers Association and a pine marten pelt.
Meanwhile, the activists are up to their usual shenanigans. Pamela Anderson is trying to promote her anti-animal-use lifestyle while praising Vladimir Putin. "He loves wildlife," she opines, but he's also an avid hunter. Should someone tell her? And these heartless people hurled abuse at a child with terminal cancer because he wanted to try bullfighting, with one telling him to "just die".
Parkas lined with fox fur are all the rage this winter!
As winter is rolling in, we are thinking about fox fur-lined parkas (above) and otter fur scarves, like the ones the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wore when they visited Canada in October. And if you know anyone who is on the fence about wearing fur, be sure to share the following TruthAboutFur post. We think it is a pretty clear explanation about Why we must wear leather and fur.
The royal family of Greenland resplendent in seal skin!
Other articles that caught our eye included this one about the cost of groceries in the far north of Canada. We hope this makes activists think twice about criticizing the way of life up there, including the hunting. One of our contributing editors was a guest on a fashion podcast and talked about the fur trade. We've got your wildlife lesson sorted for this month with some interesting information about mink and bobcats. And our fur photo of the month award goes to the Royal Family of Denmark, who were photographed in seal skin for the latest Greenland stamp (above). Animal rights activists were not impressed but we certainly were.
I recently sat in on a conservation meeting in a sportsmen’s lodge outside Concord, New Hampshire. The topic for discussion… Read More
Sportsmen are "one of the most unorganized groups of people in the country".
I recently sat in on a conservation meeting in a sportsmen’s lodge outside Concord, New Hampshire. The topic for discussion was the lack of camaraderie amongst sportsmen and women, and the toll this has taken on conservation and wildlife programs throughout the state and region. One man said his piece on what was wrong with the current state of hunting and trapping across America. “I’m going to say something that may offend some of you," he cautioned us, "but it needs to be said. Sportsmen groups are one of the most unorganized groups of people in the country.” There wasn’t a single rebuttal from anyone in attendance; everyone knew full well what he meant, and furthermore, what it means for the future of consumptive outdoor activities in the region and the country.
It’s a subject that not too many hunters and anglers recognize, or want to admit, but those of us in more “niche” activities like hound hunting and fur trapping know it all too well. Let’s face it, you may be a big-time duck hunter and passionate about your sport, but when a bill comes before your state legislature to restrict or ban bear hunting, are you as a duck hunter, going to take the time to write to your representative to save bear hunting when you know full well you’ll never hunt bear? I’m guessing the answer, nine times out of ten, would be “no”, and that's one of the reasons why consumptive outdoorsmen and women are constantly under scrutiny from anti-hunting and anti-consumptive organizations nationwide.
Decades ago this type of mindset was unheard of. If you hunted deer, chances were you also dropped a line in the creek for trout and trapped muskrats along the marshlands during duck season. In many states and provinces, this way of life still prevails as larger populations of rural folks hold tight to their outdoor self-reliant roots. But for many of us, the community of consumptive sportsmen has become fragmented. We are passionate about our own particular practices, but fail to recognize hunting, fishing and trapping as an all-encompassing benefit to conservation and outdoor recreation.
Divisions in the Ranks
Now I know there are plenty of you reading this and wondering what I’m talking about, thinking that it's only common sense to support all forms of hunting, trapping and angling. Unfortunately nowadays, your train of thought is in the minority, and this concept is seldom heard when the proverbial deer piss hits the fan.
Yes, we should support and commend one another for having the common sense to want this natural world managed and regulated as a resource for all consumptive practices. However, every state and province in North America has divisions within its hunting ranks. Many bird hunters don’t care for trappers; many deer hunters don’t care for hounds-men; many anglers don’t care for hunters. These divisions rise to the surface every fall, and sometimes disputes over wildlife management spill into clubs and departments, causing greater divides and offshoots.
When a bill or piece of legislation does come along threatening the current ways of hunting and trapping, it's usually only those whose hides get affected (pun intended) that spend time voicing opposition.
Meanwhile, the animal rights groups and “hands-off" environmentalists have a field day presenting themselves as the majority, when in reality this is clearly not the case.
Join Your Sportsmen's Group
So what exactly am I asking for? Am I seriously trying to convince every New Hampshire deer and pheasant hunter to show up at the next hearing on anti-trapping legislation? Well, frankly, in a perfect world that’s what I’d like to see, and I recall a time when that would not have been an outlandish request.
What I will realistically settle for is for all of you to join your local sportsmen’s group - not your local skeet club or shooting range, but your state organization dedicated to preserving hunting, fishing, and trapping for everyone. The Sportsmen’s Alliance for instance, is a national organization that champions such values. This group serves as a lookout to protect deer hunters and bass fishermen, as well as fur trappers, hound hunters, and turkey callers. While national groups like the Sportsmen's Alliance do an excellent job, we must also support one another at the state and regional levels. Almost every state and province has some kind of consumptive sportsmen’s group; Maine has SAM, New Hampshire has the NH Wildlife Federation, and so on from Vermont to California. These groups not only support all major forms of regulated hunting and fishing, but also serve as a bridge of unity between the different classes of these outdoor activities.
When each of you took your hunting or trapping education classes, you learned about concepts like carrying capacity, wildlife management and conservation. I can tell you the Primos hunting decal on the back of your F-250 doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t support the other aspects of conservation that go along with its meaning. It really doesn’t matter how much you spent on your duck blind, or which Pro-Staff you belong to - if you aren’t willing to recognize and support the other aspects of wildlife conservation, such as fur trapping and bear hunting, your Real-Tree camo pajamas are nothing more than a fashion statement. More than 90 million U.S. residents (16 years old and above) participated in some form of wildlife-related recreation in 2011. With numbers like this, it’s a downright embarrassment that we must constantly fight to keep trapping and hunting relevant today.
Deceitful Anti-Hunting Groups
Despite what anti-hunting activists may say or think, I know lack of support for these “niche” activities isn’t due to lack of individual sympathy for the cause, but rather a lack of motivation to see the fight through. This is where we all, as outdoorsmen and women, must stand together against those who wish to abolish all forms of hunting and fishing. If you don’t believe your brand of outdoor hunting could be targeted, take a look at the current headlines to get a snapshot of how anti-hunting groups deceitfully operate. They know how difficult it is to push a man off his stool. They know it's much easier to whittle away at each supporting leg of that stool when he’s not looking, and watch him fall on his ass in sheer shock and surprise!
Keep in mind these organizations don’t protest hunting and attempt law changes on principle. Their primary motivation is donations. Take a look at any of the anti-hunting groups like HSUS, PETA and Furbearer Defenders, and you’ll see their websites plastered with “donate-now” buttons. They parade state-to-state crying injustice, corruption and animal cruelty while soliciting for donations. Once the deed is done, and they’ve won the argument, they’re on to the next state to suck the life out of their outdoor conservation groups. The wildlife these groups claim to support end up suffering in their wake as they continue to follow the money. Its common knowledge that most of the people who speak against hunting at these state hearings are paid to be there – it’s much more motivating to “save the animals” when you’re collecting a large paycheck in the process. But instead of standing and fighting these anti-hunting groups, sportsmen are busy pushing their neighbors under the bus in the hope these groups will move on if trapping and bear hunting are banned. This is a huge mistake, as even the most basic research on these groups will show this is not their end game. Staten Island is already experimenting with controlling its deer population by castrating bucks rather than allowing hunting; it’s happening right in front of your eyes and I’m sorry to say the “Redneck pride” sticker on the back of your truck isn’t going to stop it.
It’s not all doom and gloom; there is a light at the end of this ever-growing tunnel. You can start by becoming an active member of your local sportsmen’s club and keeping an ear to the wall for anti-hunting and trapping legislation. Find out who your local district and state representatives are and let them know you are a hunter or trapper. Whether they’re Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, most representatives listen to what their constituents are saying. Sending a handwritten letter introducing yourself and your outdoor activities is a good start to breaking the ice before legislation is introduced. It doesn’t take a lot of time either - I work a full time job, maintain and run a pro-trapping website for free, and take an active role in my local conservation groups with time still left over to hunt and trap!
To summarize, whether you hunt to put venison in the freezer, fish for sport, bird hunt with dogs or set traps for natural fur garments, you are an integral part of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Your support is needed as our society is overcome by tablets, smart-phones, self-driving cars and Kardashians. Our self-reliant ways of life are ALL in jeopardy as habitat loss and out-of-touch citizens continue to constrain and restrict our activities. It’s time we start pushing back and regain our freedoms as fixtures of the natural world. United We Stand, Divided We All Fall.
It’s time for our September Fur In The News roundup and we want to talk about fur fashion! Namely the… Read More
It's time for our September Fur In The News roundup and we want to talk about fur fashion! Namely the "hat of the season", which just happens to be a trapper hat made of fur (above). Those are fashion trends we can get on board with! And for the guys, it's all about fur slides. Have you bought your pair yet? And be sure to check out this fantastic feature in Vogue's September issue.
Speaking of trapper hats, we were pleased to read this article about how more women are hunting. It would be nice to hear of the same thing happening with trapping. And speaking of women in trapping, here's a lady who truly inspires us. We love this video of Jane Dragon telling us about how nothing is wasted when using animals - a great example of how to use animals responsibly.
We can't write a news roundup without including some activist shenanigans, so here they are. An interesting trend we are seeing is the activists turning on themselves. This isn't the first time we've read about vegans who don't approve of PETA's marketing tactics, but this might be the first time we actually agree with the them! Speaking of vegans, Italy is talking about outlawing veganism for kids.
But not all activists are busy writing articles (we wish), there are many who are up to no good. This Canadian activist is being investigated by police for threatening to kill the mayor of Miami. (Please let him go to jail! Please let him go to jail!) PETA is keeping itself busy by trying to control the content of a video game which is as ridiculous as it sounds. And the dumbest activist of the month award goes to this one who got stuck in a bear trap while he was trying to remove the bait. We feel really sorry for him. Not.
We've penned our own little attack on PETA ... Ok, let's call it a little investigation instead. We've looked into one of PETA's angora rabbit videos (above) to try and determine whether it was staged. A good read, indeed!
Let's end our roundup with a few articles of note, starting with this blog post, entitled Why Fur Is the Ethical Clothing Choice, which explores public opinion about animal use and the ethics of the fur trade and fur fashion. We loved the story of the fisherman who found this ancient axe while fishing for bass. And lastly, the horror story of the month is one about Russians, namely two married couples stuck in a small cabin in the Arctic and waiting for a rescue that is a month away. Can you imagine the arguments?!? Oh yeah, and they are also surrounded by hungry polar bears.
A recent on-line, anti-trapping rant by Born Free USA boss Adam Roberts (“What kind of person still traps wild animals?”, Huffington Post,… Read More
Randy Mersereau demonstrates a quick-killing box set for fisher or raccoon in New Brunswick. The trap is placed high on an inclined pole to keep it out of the reach of dogs that may be attracted by the bait. Photo: Truth About Fur.
A recent on-line, anti-trapping rant by Born Free USA boss Adam Roberts ("What kind of person still traps wild animals?", Huffington Post, Sept. 7, 2016) underscores how trappers are on the front line in the war against humans using animals – a war in which the weapons of choice are misleading images, inflammatory rhetoric, and exploiting the information gap between rural and urban cultures.
Roberts' attack drives home how important it is to explain, again and again, the vital role trappers play in responsible wildlife management and conservation.
Like other "animal-rights" groups, the folks at Born Free rage against a wide range of animal-use activities. This time, as part of their "Victims of Vanity 2" campaign, they are promoting an “undercover” trap-line video showing “atrocities” that they claim “occur regularly across America”.
“What kind of person purposely destroys a beaver dam and sets a ‘wall of death’ of Conibear traps," asks Roberts, "knowing that the unsuspecting beavers will return to repair their handiwork – only to be possibly smashed across their abdomens and drowned?”
The insinuation is that such traps cause terrible suffering. Born Free's own video, however, shows beavers that have clearly been struck by the trap bar across the back of the neck, breaking cervical vertebrae and causing rapid death, just as this quick-killing trap is intended to do. These traps were developed through several decades of (on-going) scientific research to provide the most humane possible methods for controlling wildlife populations.
Thanks to this pioneering work, the time-to-death produced by quick-killing traps like those shown in Born Free's video is now measured in seconds. Roberts knows, however, that most of his readers live in cities and have little real contact with nature. People who find their meat neatly wrapped in cellophane on grocery store counters are easily shocked by pictures of dead animals, no matter how humanely they were euthanized – especially when cued with sufficiently emotional rhetoric.
Ryan Minette sets live-holding foot trap for lynx in British Columbia. He works as a nurse when he's not out on the land. Photo: Truth About Fur.
Similarly, the live-holding devices used for capturing larger predators – like the coyote shown in Born Free's video – are not diabolical instruments of “torture”. Modern, live-holding foot traps are used by wildlife biologists to capture and release – unharmed – wolves, lynx, river otters and other animals for radio-collaring or reintroduction into regions where they were previously extirpated. To claim, as Roberts does, that such traps “have remained relatively unchanged for 400 years” is nonsense.
Should We Kill At All?
But what about the bigger question Roberts implicitly raises: should we really be killing wild animals at all?
In fact, there are many reasons why wildlife populations often must be managed. Overpopulated beavers can completely “eat out” vegetation in their region; the population will then crash and there may be no beavers at all for many years. Regulated trapping can smooth out these boom-and-bust cycles, maintaining healthier and more stable beaver populations. This is one reason why biologists believe there are now as many beavers in North America as there have ever been. There can, however, be too much of a good thing: beaver dams in the wrong places can flood roads, fields, and forest habitat. When your basement (driveway, back yard) is flooded, who’re ya gonna call: Mr. Roberts ... or your local trappers’ association?
Meanwhile, coyotes are the number-one predator problem for sheep and cattle ranchers, and many states and provinces have been obliged to offer bounties to keep their populations in check. Coyote, fox and raccoon populations are also culled to protect endangered ground-nesting birds or sea-turtle eggs. Overpopulated foxes, skunks and raccoons are prime vectors for rabies and other diseases that can be transmitted to humans and pets. For these and many other reasons, there will always be a need for trapping, whether or not anyone buys fur. Without a market for fur, however, these management efforts would be paid for by the government – i.e., by tax-payers – as they now are in many parts of Europe.
Trappers protect nature in other ways that are not often publicly recognized. While we all “care” about nature, most of us now live in cities. Trappers are our eyes and ears on the land, sounding the alarm when nature is threatened by inappropriate resource extraction or industrial activity. Trappers' associations across North America are on the front lines to ensure that forestry practices respect the needs of wildlife, for example by leaving a swath of uncut trees along watercourses. And, like the canary in the mine, trappers are the first to spot changes such as reduced reproduction rates among mink that may signal industrial pollution upstream. Harvesting data, including the sex and age distribution trends, provide vital information about the health of our wildlife populations.
Biologist Serge Larivière teaches youngster Vivianne Lachance how to trap muskrats along an agricultural drainage ditch in Agapit, Quebec, 2006. Photo: Truth About Fur.
Most important of all, nature is not a museum. Most wildlife species produce more young each year than their habitat can support to maturity. The ones that don’t survive feed those that do. We are part of nature and we too can make use of the surpluses that nature produces – year after year, generation after generation – so long as we protect the habitats and ecosystems that provide those surpluses. This is called “the sustainable use of renewable natural resources”, a central conservation principle promoted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other conservation authorities. (By contrast, the synthetic materials that animal activists would have us wear are usually derived from petroleum, a non-renewable resource.)
Animal Abuse
Does all this give us the right to abuse animals? Absolutely not.
The Born Free video also shows a trapped coyote being kicked, prompting Roberts to ask, "What kind of person watches a tethered and helpless coyote writhe in pain and distress, unable to move because of the intensely unforgiving steel jaws clamped to her paw, kicks her in the side, and then finally shoots her in the chest so that her lungs fill with blood, and she dies a miserable, suffocating death?"
Most trappers would be disgusted by this scene. There is no excuse for kicking an animal, ever. Furthermore – Roberts' "intensely unforgiving" rhetoric aside – every trappers' association and trapper-training manual teaches that live-trapped animals should be killed quickly and humanely with a direct shot to the head. But this completely unacceptable behavior of one individual does not give Roberts or Born Free the right to smear the reputations of more than 200,000 North American trappers.
On the contrary, as society becomes more interested in protecting our natural environment, it is time that we learn more about these remarkable and knowledgeable men and women – the small minority among us who continue to live close to the land.
What kind of person still traps today? Far from the grotesque caricatures that animal activists like to portray, in many real and practical ways, today’s trappers are the true guardians of nature.
If you are in denial that summer is over, never fear, we still have a few good tips on how to combine fur into your beachwear wardrobe. Elle has several suggestions on how to wear fur on the beach (above) and Cindy Crawford shows us how to wear fur boots on a boat trip. Too bad she wasn't in a kayak made of seal skin. Lucky for us, the summer's most popular parka was made of fur and we think it will transition nicely into your fall fashion wardrobe. What else should you be wearing for fall? The fashionistas are suggesting fur sandals and these amazing fur backpacks from Fendi. Back to school is very chic this year!
If you love fur fashion, then you might be interested in reading about the longest fashion collaboration to date - the one between Karl Lagerfeld and Fendi which has resulted in some incredible fur fashion. And if you want to learn the tricks of the trade, then check out this school in Finland which teaches the skills to design and make fur garments.
Sue Boot of Basically Bush models her spectacular possum creations.
Let's end this month's roundup with some helpful educational materials, some related to fur and some not so much! We'll start with a chart (above) on how to tell real fur from fake. Or if you want to identify that bird of prey eyeing your trapline just by looking at its claws, here's a very useful claw chart. (Please let us know if there are better uses for this chart!)
