Is it wrong to wear fur?

[fortyplus]

I have launched a fairly venomous attack on Xenia, glibly implying that 10,000 of you will agree with me. Here are some 'edited highlights' of what started it...

By Xenia on Sunday, 10 December, 2006 8:45:30 ...The girls have a huge range of interests (including intimate knowledge of London nightclubs.. I think one got into conversation with a famous chef at ChinaWhite one night when he ought to have been dealing with his children and being with his wife, rather than chatting up pretty blondes wearing fur?.)

By aliceband on Sunday, 10 December, 2006 8:55:19 PM
wearing fur?

By Xenia on Sunday, 10 December, 2006 9:00:13
Fur... of course. Surely from my posts you could tell my family would wear fur? 160,000 vicunas now roam Peru I think it is because they had been dying out but then were farmed for their fur. It saved the species and yet Blair bans fur farming. There is no hope but thankfully the planet is big and the world our oyster.
Later...
Did you mean I wasn't clear on fur ro you think we can wear leather shoes and murder plants but not something that looks sweet and fluffy (unless it's a calf in which case then it's okay to kill it but only if the skin is a by-product even though we no more need to eat meat than we need to wear skins)? Thankfully a week today I will be somewhere amongst many fur wearers and away from the warped collective British conscience.
By Queenmummy on Monday, 11 December, 2006 3:25:09 PMOne of these days Xenia will disappear up her own a**e and suffocate herself (hopefully before she bores us all to tears with the one track argument we are all fed up with listening to. Xenia - if you really are a well-rounded and interesting person, how about talking about something new besides than this dull and done to death SAHM/WOHM thing......

By fortyplus on Tuesday, 12 December, 2006 12:00:26 AM
I take back what I said about Xenia's views being to the left of Attila the Hun.

Abhorrence of the fur trade has nothing to do with whether animals look cute & fluffy, Xenia. It's all about the pain and suffering caused to the animals and stupid bitches wanting to look like prostitutes quite happy to wear the skin of a big cat that's been killed by having a red hot poker stuffed up its anus so as not to mark the skin.

You say that you've 'worked hard to fit in' with British society since coming to this country.

You haven't got a clue. Why do you think that out of 10,000 people on mumsnet the only one who consistently agrees with you is mohze?

Your smug, sanctimonious opinions are despised by every apparently decent person on this site.

one of the things that i really noticed and hated about madonna di campiglio was the gross prevalence of fur

a pity as the mountains were beautiful

it's such a pity, we were really getting somewhere and people did think twice about wearing fur in the 80s. now people just don't care anymore, what a selfish society. only ugly women wear fur.

I really dont know this but can you tell the difference between fake fur and real fur, as I would wear the fake but am scared of being set upon by PETA

I don't think it's wrong if you eat the animal as well. Even if the animal is supposedly kept in humane conditions I think it is very wasteful and not natural just to use its fur.

But what about antique fur?

Xenia - I have to say that you do make mn a more interesting place - I wouldn't bother with it if everyone held the same views as me.
It's just that your views seem so extreme and out of touch with reality, sometimes.
Anyhow - must go - it's a lovely sunny morning and I'm meeting a friend for lunch before picking the boys up from school, feeding them and taking them back for their Christmas concert. They're both performing - they play violin & french horn despite being in the state system. It's a tough old life being a sahm! xx

i think the antique fur is similar to ivory

it is already there but it is tainted

and as a general rule it's not fshionably cut and moth eaten and smelly unless yoiu have paid to have it stored

I'm on a conference call and then have a long Christmas lunch... oh dear... will I wear fur....

Promise me you'll order the veal....

just saw this and wanted to add that i questioned the "wearing fur" but couldnt be bothered any more to have a disucssion about it! i could have been really rude.. but backed down..
so am actually glad that someone else bought it up

besides that, of course it is wrong to wear fur

Lisel, to me its very obvious the difference between real and fake fur.
Real fur is more fine where as fake is more separated and rough if that makes sense.

Fur coats make you look 3 stone overweight IMO.

I abhor cruelty to animals but think that most British people are complete and utter hypocrites on the issue.

How is it that the majority of people in this country declare themselves to be anti-fur and anti-fox hunting and yet the vast majority of eggs(something like 70- 80%) sold are still battery?. I personally never buy ready prepared meals or food of any kind as in most cases it is made with non- free range/ organic ingredients. When the great British public apply their 'principles' to their wallet, then perhaps they can be taken seriously.

I don't think most people do declare themselves anti fox hunting or anti fur or anti battery farming

I suspect most people are completely apathetic as far as these things go

OK, so here's another scenario.

In New Zealand, the oppossum is an introduced animal which does huge amounts of damage to the native forest. It eats the top of the native trees, stopping their growth and eats native bird's eggs. Many species of native bird are under threat of extinction because of the opposum's activities.

In the late 70s and early 80s when I was a teenager and student, one of the methods we had of increasing our income was trapping oppossums. They're noxious animals, vermin that upset the wildlife balance and do untold damage. It was worth our while to trap the oppossums because we got around $10 a pelt, which were shipped abroad for the fur trade.

As the anti fur campaign took off in Europe and America in the mid to late 80s, the demand for pelts fell, as did the price. Consequently it became uneconomical for the legion of small trappers to continue. As a result the oppossum population rocketed and the resulting damage to forests and wildlife has been catastrophic.

Yes the traps can sometimes be cruel. But is it not also cruel to condem several species to extinction because of squemishness?

Isn't there another way to cull the oppossum without using horrible traps and selling the animal for use of its fur?

Message withdrawn

But surely if you are going to kill something it makes sense to use what parts of it you can, fur 'n' all?

if you are going to kill something best do it humanely

why don't people wear rats fur we breed plenty of those free range?

most animals are farmed just for their fur though.

Do you like my lurverly rat gloves doesn't have the same ring to it does it?

Glennclose... I agree killing should always be as quick and painless as possible. I don't know why people don't wear rat fur. Probably something to do with the idea that they are dirty vermin. I think it would be nice as a handbag, or belt!!

if your stomach is feeling up to it, check out the burberry link on the peta website