Are the fur trade’s practices cruel to animals?
Of course they are. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something. • Does that mean wearing fur is immoral? What answer can we all hope to agree on? Some people would swear it is, some would swear it’s not, some can’t decide because they don’t know what Jesus would do. Some argue that the act of wearing the fur is not inherently cruel, and should therefore be distinguished from the cruelty of the trade. I’d call that splitting hairs, but let’s be honest. Generally those of us who would gag at the idea of wearing a dead chinchilla still regularly wear leather, and hamburger is the most popular food in the country. Cosmetic research overwhelmingly involves animal testing, as do medical and pharmaceutical research. Fast food is made predominately of farm animals, sometimes fed on other farm animals. Michael Vick aside, it would be hypocritical to deny that it’s not so much a morality issue as the cuteness factor at work. If we really wanted to address animal cruelty at its core, w
