Is buying fur from trapped animals less ethical than buying products of fur farms?
It’s one big business — all of it lucrative, and all of it disrespectful to other animals. More than 70 percent of the fur sold in the United States comes from mink, many of whom are raised on one of more than 300 mink farms which together produce nearly 3 million pelts each year.[8] Then there are the muskrats, otters, beavers, pine martens and fishers (the last two belong to the weasel family, with the fishers being significantly larger) — some of the free-living animals currently trapped in North America for the fur markets in China and Russia. China is now the main consumer of pelts from the northern United States, and trappers who last year got about $2.80 for each muskrat’s fur now get $7 for each muskrat they trap and skin.[9] Of the three main Canadian auctions where trappers sell pelts, the largest is the North American Fur Auction in Toronto, at 5.5 million pelts a year.
