Save. Spend. Splurge.

Should you really be against wearing or buying fur?

I was thinking the other day about wearing fur. Fur animal coats (not the faux ones) to be specific.

I had an instant sense of revulsion thinking about it, because it is as if I am draping an entire animal around my shoulders and calling it a day.

… but then I thought: Is it really all that bad?

I mean I’m really just a hypocrite if I think like that about fur, because of all the other things I do.

Unless you are a full-fledged vegan who has shunned ALL animal products, you really can’t be against fur all that strongly.

I EAT MEAT ON OCCASION

Let it be known that I am not a fan of mass-produced meat.

Nowadays, the most amount of meat I’ll eat is a drumstick-portion a day.

The rest of my meals are vegetarian, and I haven’t missed cutting out all that meat since.

If I eat a steak, it is a steak that will turn into 4 separate meals because I find a single steak to hold too much meat for a single meal.

For me, meat is more for flavour and texture, and then I pile on the vegetables and grains.

I don’t need much meat to be satisfied, but I do like a little of it.

I WEAR LEATHER AND OWN LOTS OF LEATHER ITEMS

Boots, bags, jackets.. I like leather. I like the look and feel of it, and I do soothe myself into thinking: Well we’re eating the cow anyway.. why not use the skin too?

Is fur any different?

Erin-Templeton-Tomboy-Large-Elk-Leather-Tote-Cinnamon

 

(Erin Templeton’s Elk Bag I purchased)

Sure, we don’t eat mink, but I am sure they find a use for that meat some how, perhaps by putting it into animal feed or what have you.

.. but what’s the difference between a mink and a cow, really..? Aren’t they both animals?

IS IT REALLY JUST ABOUT THE WAY ANIMALS ARE TREATED OR FARMED FOR THEIR FUR?

Killing elephants just because you like the ivory of their tusks is something that is just really stupid in my opinion, mostly because it’s going to drive them into extinction and I am fairly sure they don’t do anything with the meat or the skin. They just harvest the tusks and leave the food for the other animals to pick through.

But is it really any better than what we are doing to get meat by raising cows en masse in cages to feed our growing consumption for whackloads of meat with everything we eat?

For all those huge rib fests? Barbecue get-downs? All of it resulting in higher healthcare costs, obesity and sickness?

Do we eat so much meat because we enjoy eating it, or is it because we’re used to eating it and we can’t change?

So how is that any better than if someone were to wear a secondhand fur coat, or to buy a vintage fur?

Is it really any better to overload the Earth with more and more cows raised just for meat consumption, compared to fur coat purchases?

How is a cow or a pig different from your pet dog? Or your cat? Or a mink?

I guess I am trying to figure out what the morality is here in condemning fur, but then feeling totally fine with wearing cow skin on your feet, in your bag, or on your back.

For me, unless I am a vegan for food and for lifestyle, I can’t really say anything.. can I?

6 Comments

  • ELAINE

    I have vintage fur pieces, I would like a vest or jacket one day. I wore a skunk coat for 4 years in college and grad school and by then it had been through 3 generations or four of keeping the women in my family warm, I t really wasn’t the best style sorta Gothic Punk. It was donated to a charity. I get more hepped up by cosmetic monopolies.

    I eat meat every couple of weeks and the eat plant based. Thanks for the input,

  • Ravi Roshan Jaiswal

    Hey there..

    Yeah, I’m against it because I don’t want that for my requirement any animals is in grief. Therefore, I hate to wear or use the animals fur. As a person, I love fashionable thing to wear but hate to wear animal fur.

    Often, people forget to show their real fashion they go through the affection which may be dangerous. Anyway, Your post is really awesome and got a wonderful chance to present my views through this post on using animals fur. thanks.

    ~ Ravi.

  • raluca

    I have zero moral problems with eating meat. But then, I mostly eat meat from animals that my parents or gradparents raise and I sometimes help in butchering.

    When I was five years old, my dad slaughtered “my” baby goat. My parents didn’t tell me about it and I just ate the stew that they put in front of me. Later in the day I strolled in the garden, where his pelt was left to dry. It was horrifying to realize what they/I had done and I refused to eat meat for almost 1 month. For a 5 year-old kid, a month is a looong time. But then I caved and started eating meat again and the lesson that I learned then, that farm animals are born and raised for eating have stayed with me for all eternity.

    Farm work is hard work. If you work all day in the office is one thing. But if you haul hay or muck the pigsty or just take care of the animals at 4:30 in the morning I do not believe that anyone has the moral right to tell you what to do with those animals when winter comes. I will be judgemental here and make a sweeping generalization and say that I believe it’s easy to be a vegetarian when you have never worked on a farm. It’s easy to think all animals are cudly and loving and sweet when you haven’t had any interaction with a hungry 200 kilogram pig or you haven’t had to milk a goat. Trust me, animals are bastards too. In fact, they are hardly cuddly and most of them are at least capable of killing you if not necessarily inclined to do so. Farm life is not flowers and butterflies, it’s muck and sweat and blood.

    I’m going to make another generalization and say that it’s also easy to waste meat when you’ve never worked on a farm. And you can waste it in so many ways: either eating too much or just never eating offal because it’s yucky or just choosing “the perfect cut” because it’s so juicy and tasty. When you have seen a kid goat being born or fed the chickens or skinned a rabbit or butchered a pig, you cannot bear to waste food like that. Because those are animals that you have cared for all their life and if you sacrifice them in the end, you should be ashamed if then you wasted their lives like that. Yes, even the chicken’s feet can and should be eaten, they make excelent soup.

    That’s why I don’t really have a problem with leather shoes or a fur coat. My father raises rabbits at the moment, wouldn’t it be a waste to throw their pelts in the garbage, if the meat ends in the pot? And yes, I will be eating them, because my father worked hard to provide their food, worked hard to keep them clean and healthy. And their lives have been quite happy up to the point.

    However, I am against mink fur because of the same reason. It seems wastefull to only keep the fur and throw away the meat. It seems somehow sinfull to treat an animal like that just for vanity. I guess I can justify it when I’m eating it, just can’t justify doing the same thing for looking good.

    • sherry@savespendsplurge.com

      What a fantastic reply. I’m humbled! I should really try and see if I can get Baby Bun to a farm some time. I myself have not been in a long time, but we have friends who farm.

      As long as the animals are happy until that point, I am happy about eating meat. We have avoided eating it as much as possible.

      The other thing that bothers me is when kids or adults say “EWWW” to seeing a whole fish, or need the face covered with a cloth to eat it. WTF.

      Baby Bun is going to learn it was a real fish swimming, and then we ate it.

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