Fur. Feathers. Wool.
Add silk and leather, and you’ll get what this post is all about.
My apologies for being late — I have a lot going on at the moment, but will be on track.
A while ago I looked at a New York Times article which I knew would annoy me – and yet, I opened it. It was a photo shoot from the 2023 Met Gala Red Carpet. I knew that the names and faces of most of the super models, starlets, celebrities, fashion designers, and other entertainment icons wouldn’t mean anything to me, and I want to keep it that way. I knew that I’d find the over-the-top, jewel-studded costumes irritating and silly – and yet. It’s embarrassing to confess, but I felt compelled to look at the display of gilded bling and glamor. If that’s a tad neurotic, so be it – I’ll postpone a serious psychological analysis for the time being, it’s just not that important.
What really bugged me, however, was the frequent display of feathers. One supermodel was wearing a huge cape-like coat with a long trail, completely made out of feathers. And she wasn’t the only one bedecked in plumage that once belonged to a bird – or many birds, actually.
Maybe you’d think that only females are attracted to bedecking themselves with feathers – wrong. There’s a Pinterest-page about Mens [sic] Feather Trends with 87 entries/images. I dare you to take a look; “decidedly odd” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Ostrich feathers, peacock feathers, and what are called marabou feathers – they used to be taken from the marabou stork, but now come from turkeys – are the most popular plumes used in women’s fashion. And then there are featherbeds, and down comforters, sleeping bags, jackets, and vests. Well, one doesn’t have to kill a bird to get some feathers, maybe it’s not all that bad? Oh yes, it is. No matter how you look at it, the treatment of the ducks and geese who provide down feathers is cruel and unethical. The Audubon website reports:
The vast majority of the 270,000 metric tons of commercial down produced each year is a byproduct of goose and duck meat industries in Asia and Europe, where the birds might be live-plucked or force-fed for foie gras before heading to the slaughterhouse.1
Live-plucking is extremely painful and uncomfortable for ducks and geese. According to PETA, the birds are lifted by their necks or wings, their legs are often tied, and then the feathers are ripped out, often leaving torn, bleeding skin which then is sewn up by workers with needle and thread but without painkillers. The birds that get plucked AFTER they’ve been slaughtered for meat are at most 15 weeks old, little more than three months. Geese normally live ten to twenty years, but can live longer: one banded Canada goose was over 33 years old when she died2. Ducks can live seven to ten years, and ducks in captivity – protected from predators – can live up to 20 years.
People are increasingly concerned about animal welfare, and as a result of closer scrutiny and under pressure, the down industry has created labels for ethically sourced down. The article at the Audubon website mentioned above spells out the details for “Global Traceable Down Standard”, “Responsible Down Standard”, “Downpass”, and “International Down Standard”, all of which are certificates with a number of requirements the facilities and brands have to follow, and which are reviewed by independent auditors. PETA has investigated the “Responsible Down Standard”, and Joaquin Phoenix narrates a video that exposes “Responsible Down” for being essentially meaningless.
When it comes to fur, the situation is just as horrifying, although fur coats are becoming increasingly unpopular. The Humane Society reported in 2021 that mink fur production dropped to an all-time low in the U.S., but there are still around 300 fur farms around the country, mostly in the Midwest and Northeast regions. Fur farms are facilities where animals such as minks, foxes, chinchillas, and rabbits are bred and raised for their fur. The conditions are dismal: the animals’ suffering and cruel treatment, inhumane living conditions, and painful and gruesome killing methods make up a long list of atrocities. At mink farms, for example, the animals live for about six months before — in the words of the mink farm industry — they’re being harvested. In the wild, they can live for about five to ten years.
They’re kept in cramped, filthy cages, and the lack of space drives them crazy. Mink are solitary animals who may occupy up to 2,500 acres of wetland habitat in the wild and they like running, swimming, and digging dens. The way they get killed is absolutely ghastly; because the farmers want to keep the pelts intact, the animals get electrocuted, or are killed by gassing, or have their necks broken, and some are even skinned alive (recorded on fur farms in Asia). There are no federal laws that govern the killing of animals on fur farms in the U.S.
There’s another reason to end mink farming for good. These animals are particularly susceptible to the virus that causes Covid 19, the coronavirus. In 2021, over 430 mink fur farms in the U.S., Canada, and Europe had outbreaks, and because the virus can jump to humans, more than 17 million minks were killed in Denmark alone. This number is almost abstract, because it is so huge. But if one considers that New York City has almost 9 million inhabitants, it becomes more real – as many mink as twice the number of residents of NYC. That’s a lot.
As this post is already quite long, wool, silk, and leather will be the topics of another piece. I also wanted to look into a question that came up: our human ancestors had furry bodies. Why did we eventually lose most of our body hair? When this “naked” condition subsequently required hairy coats that then were taken from non-human animals? Scientists have a number of interesting explanations, or rather hypotheses, because we don’t really know for sure. And there are possibilities that scientists don’t even consider, such as esthetic preferences – maybe less hairy was more attractive? I will investigate in an upcoming post.
I’m happy to report that people seem less inclined nowadays to wear animals. Every creature looks best in their own skin, wouldn’t you agree.
yes of course i agree and so would most people but (to beat a broken drum) the answer is in people becoming more aware and starting with themselves / if we can see our own humanity then we can begin to see it in other people too and if we can see it in other people we might begin to see that spark of life in our fellow animal friends / the sacred spark of life is our commonality and maybe we need to talk about that otherwise everything is just too dark and depraved
I have shared this wonderful article to my Facebook. Thank you!