CLOTHING and COSMETIC ANIMALS
We believe that the use of animals for clothing can only be justified where there is no
inanimate alternative source. In modern society this is never the case. The more
unnecessary the clothing, the worse the violation of animals - that is to say, using
leather is wrong but wearing fur is an outrage. Trapping, snaring, shooting, poisoning or
any other molestation of wild animals is wrong. And captive breeding is every bit as bad. The fur industry tries to tell us that conditions on their farms are
good. We say - go take a look! See
also: Experiment Animals
For more detailed information on the cruelty
involved in different clothing materials, click:
Footwear & Clothing
Where to buy cruelty free
clothing, toiletries, household products, cleaning supplies and cosmetics:
PETA's Companies that test and
don't test
(You can do a great deal for animals by following this
guide!!)
Cruelty Free Shopping
A Shopper's Guide To Leather
Alternatives - The Vegetarian Resource Group
Better than leather: UK substitutes
Vegan Essentials
Stuffed gibbon in a Beijing clothing shop:
(picture by IPPL)
Fur?
不要穿皮毛：香港皮草展背後的醜惡真相
PETA
PETA (Chinese)
A Shocking Look Inside
Chinese Fur Farms
inFURmation.com
HSUS
Report on China
Care for the Wild - Fun
Fur?
How to help
animals in China, ANIMAL PEOPLE January/February 1999
Fur Statistics
Respect for
Animals
The Fur Industry is moving in on China in the same way as the
Tobacco Companies. These industries see a vast market of newly rich people who have little
in the way of the education necessary to see the truth behind the advertisements. The
increase in fur wearing in the winter in Chinese cities is all too apparent to even the
casual observer. Hong Kong/China is now the largest exporter of fur
garments to the U.S. For July 2000, Hong Kong shipped nearly US$6 million, up 174% -
almost 40% of the total. For 2000, Hong Kong's cumulative total was $24.9
million, up 132%. Canada shipped $4.8 million, and a total of $23 million (up
21%) for the year. Italy shipped $2.9 million in July, up 81%. Their total for
2000 is $5.9 million, an increase of 88%. Shipments from Greece increased 2% to
$671,000 in July. Greece shipped a total of $2.9 million (up 65%) in 2000.
Fox fur helps develop China's western
provinces
Japan Economic Newswire June 13, 2000,
Tuesday
Michael Forsythe - DATELINE: DINGXI, China June 13 Kyodo
Fox, reviled for centuries in Chinese folk tales, now occupies an increasingly
important role in lifting China's more backward western provinces out of
economic doldrums.
Chinese farmers hope to earn big profits selling fox pelts into the Russian and
Chinese markets. Gansu Province's Dingxi County, one of China's poorest, is
ground zero for the burgeoning fox fur industry.
Yang Shengsheng, sole proprietor of the 'Dry Area Special Plant and Animal
Husbandry Corp.,' is the darling of local officials, who are anxious to
stimulate the rural county's economy.
But Yang's 3,000 foxes live in conditions that would make any animal rights
activist bristle.
Kept in cages arranged in rows inside Yang's walled compound, the animals are
fully exposed to the summer heat of the near-desert environment. They also
appeared underfed and one was seen eating its own feces, an act Yang was at a
loss to explain.
But in a county where rural incomes average 1,188 yuan (US$143) a year, less
than one-fifth of China's average, the prospects of earning up to 1,300 yuan per
fox pelt has sent Yang dreaming big.
'This year, I expect to sell 10,000 pelts,' Yang says.
But the question of how 3,000 caged animals can net 10,000 pelts provides the
key to understanding why Dingxi's officials are so intrigued by Yang's project.
Yang subcontracts fox breeding to local peasants, who buy breeding pairs from
his company at about 1,000 yuan each. The mature foxes cost about 700 yuan
annually to feed, but can yield up to 20 pups each. Farmers then sell the
offspring back to Yang, who in turn sells them to a wholesaler. In short, fox
farming provides an attractive alternative to growing crops, a difficult task in
barely arable Dingxi, which has an average of just 350 millimeters of rain
annually.
So far, 27 peasant families are participating in the breeding program, but Yang
hopes the number will multiply because China's fur industry has room to grow.
Despite the prominence of animal rights organizations in Europe, Japan and North
America, the developed world still harvests the lion's share of fox pelts.
Scandinavian countries lead the pack, with Finland, which in 1998 harvested
2,700,000 pelts, accounting for more than half the world's fox-fur output.
Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden round out the top five. China, harvesting
200,000 pelts per year, has less than 5% of the world market, according to
statistics from the Finnish Fur Breeders Association.
Luckily for Yang and his fellow furriers, the necessities of economic
development in China's impoverished western regions and the weakness of animal
rights groups in China have kept the pressure off the nascent industry.
Outside China, scores of organizations such as the People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) keep the fox fur industry on tenterhooks. And
the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) calls for a ban on fox farming,
citing the animals' unsuitability to caged life.
'Foxes are particularly unsuited for cage raising: they are extremely fearful of
humans and generally anxious in the typical caging environment. They tremble,
defecate, and withdraw to the back of their cages,' the HSUS Website notes.
Chinese foxes have reason to be especially fearful of humans. Centuries of
Chinese and Japanese folk tales have painted foxes as the embodiment of evil.
According to legend, fox spirits transform themselves into beautiful women and
seduce unknowing men, stealing their qi (spiritual essence) in the process. As a
result, few tears are shed when the foxes are harvested.
Instead, the region's leaders are anxious to develop the area's economy, and
Yang's fox farm has been singled out as an example of a promising emerging
industry.
Provincial officials authored a leaflet proclaiming his firm is 'making an
important contribution to the farmers of Dingxi and the surrounding area who
rely on agriculture to escape from poverty and become rich.'
Yang's fox farm has taken on even more prominence since last December when the
central government in Beijing earmarked Gansu Province and its western neighbors
in a massive, multi-billion dollar program to ease the chronic income disparity
between the bustling eastern coast and the arid west. And Yang is answering the
clarion call. He is expanding into wolf meat, and, in what could be a
first for the landlocked province - crab and shrimp farming.
One sixth of a fox fur jacket:
Down?
"Down" is the soft under-feathering often plucked out of live geese who are
raised for food. In many European countries, geese are allowed to mature during the
first eight or nine weeks of life. Reaching adulthood, they are divided by color.
Gray geese are caged and force-fed - a funnel is inserted into their throats and a
salty, fatty corn mash is forced down it, up to six pounds a day - until they are
overweight and their livers have ballooned to four or more times the normal size.
Then they are killed for pate de foie gras.(1)
White geese are plucked repeatedly to
supply filling for products such as comforters, pillows, and ski parkas.(2)
Plucking the geese causes them considerable pain and distress. Four or five times in
their lives, they will squirm as a plucker tears out five ounces of their feathers.
A skilled plucker can handle 100 birds a day. After the last plucking, the geese have five
weeks to grow more feathers before they are sent through a machine that plucks their
longest feathers. From there they go to the slaughterhouse.(3)
In North America, ducks and geese are hunted and raised for their feathers (and for food).
People also gather eider down from the nests of female eider ducks, who pluck the down
from their breasts to line their nests and cover their eggs. Gathering the soft
feathers can kill unhatched ducklings.(4)
Apart from the cruelty involved in its
production, down has drawbacks as a cold-weather insulator that synthetic insulators
do not have. Not only is down expensive, it also loses its insulating ability when wet,
whereas the insulating capabilities of cruelty-free synthetic fillers are retained in all
weather.(5)
References:
1. "And a Cow Jumped Over the Moon," The Animals' Voice, February 1989, p. 56.
2. Kamm, Henry, "No Bed of Feathers for a Goose in Hungary," The New York Times,
June 2, 1988.
3. Ibid.
4. Pearson, Marcia, "Down," The Compassionate Shopper, Winter 1987-88.
5. Schneider, Al, "Down-Filled Clothing vs. Synthetics," Letters, The
Washington Post Health Section, Jan. 16, 1990.
Wool?
Silk?
Silk is the fibre silkworms weave to make cocoons. To obtain the silk, silk distributors
boil the worms alive in their cocoons. Worms are sensate - they produce endorphins, a
physical response to pain - and anyone who has seen worms scramble when their dark
homes are uncovered recognizes this. Humane alternatives to silk include nylon,
milkweed seed pod fibers, silk-cotton tree and ceiba tree filaments, and rayon.
Why Silk isn't so Smooth:
The two Martians, Tiker and Heblot were
eagerly poring over the Earthling newspaper.
"What are these pests up to now?", sail Tiker,
trying to look as uninterested as he could, but dying to get information.
"Har Har, I must say these earthlings are full
of fads. Listen to this.
"Many earthlings are switching over to a
'vegetarian lifestyle'," guffawed Heblot.
"Now what on earth is that?" asked Tiker.
"Oh it is no big deal. Vegetarianism means
staying away from the consumption of meat," said Heblot.
"Is that it?" sneered Tiker, disappointed.
"Yeah, that's what vegetarianism is. But a
vegetarian lifestyle means staying away from fur, leather, pearls and other
animal products.
But...," Heblot's voice trailed off as took
out a shining lengthy piece of cloth from his bag. An evil, all-knowing grin
appeared on his face, "Ha Ha Ha. These earthlings are too dumb, I tell you."
"But what? Tell me quickly. Are you telling me
these humans are doing something foolish again?"
"You gotcha! They always goof up."
"Tell me how. I am all ears."
"These earthlings, idiots as they are, will
stay away only from the "obviously" animal products. Yet, all products that are
animal-free in content are not necessarily also cruelty-free. Like this piece of
cloth."
He held out the dazzling long piece that he
had pulled out.
"Wow!" said Tiker admiring the glistening,
shimmering threads, "What heavenly thing is this? It shines like the sun."
"It is what they call silk, and what I have in
my hand is a saree."
"But what has this got to do with animals or
vegetarian lifestyles?"
"That's what is wrong with earthlings. Because
it isn't covered with blood and gore, they can't see the cruelty in it. When
they unthinkingly buy silk, they are causing pain and death."
"Now you don't prolong my agony, by
withholding the crucial facts."
"OK, OK, let me explain. The filament of silk
is what a silkworm spins its cocoon out of and is constructed as a shell to
protect itself during its cycle of growth from caterpillar to chrysalis to moth.
The female moth lays about 400 to 600 eggs. The eggs hatch in about 10 days and
the larvae (one-twelfth of an inch in length) emerge. They feed on mulberry
leaves for about 20-27 days, till they are fully grown (3-3 1/2 inches in
length). A fully-grown caterpillar emits a gummy substance from its mouth and
wraps itself in layers of this filament to form a cocoon in two to four days.
The caterpillar develops into a moth in about 15 days. To emerge, it has to cut
through the cocoon - thereby ruining the filament of the cocoon. Hence to save
the filament from being damaged, the cocoon is either immersed in boiling water,
passed through hot air or exposed to the scorching heat of the sun's rays to
kill the lives inside. The long continuous filament of the cocoon is then
reeled. To produce 100 grams of silk approximately 1,500 larvae have to die."
"You are actually telling me that to make one
of these sarees at least 5000 insects are burnt or boiled to death. That must be
some bloody boil," said Tiker, shuddering at the thought.
"Yes. Isn't it? And let me tell you more. Some
larvae may be kept alive to allow the moths to emerge and mate. After a female
moth lays eggs she is always crushed to check for diseases. If she appears
diseased the eggs laid by her are immediately destroyed. Generation after
generation of inbreeding has taken away the moth's capacity to fly. After
mating, the male moths are dumped into a basket and thrown out. It is a common
sight to see crows picking at them outside silk manufacturing units," said
Heblot.
"Boy, that is cruel!" said Tiker.
"If that isn't enough cruelty, here's some
more. There is another dimension to silk production - child labour. For
generations, poor people of Kancheepuram (of the famed Kanjeevaram saris) in
Tamil Nadu, have for a couple of thousand rupees mortgaged their 10-12-year-old
children to the silk industry. Also, it has been reported that contractors in
Jammu and Kashmir fleece farmers by purchasing silk at very low prices,"
completed Heblot.
"I don't believe earthlings can be this
foolish. They are so foolish that all this doesn't seen funny any more. Has no
human actually thought of stopping this?" asked a puzzled Tiker.
"Yes there are some people who are trying to
create polyester fabrics in the market that look like silk, especially if they
are printed in traditional designs and deep colours like purple, green and
magenta. Some are even trying to make weavers able to weave polyester yarn on
their looms so that they don't go out of jobs because people stop buying silk,"
answered Heblot.
" I knew earthlings were dumb, but this IS
puzzling. Why on earth are people still buying silk?"
"Hah! That's where the earthlings lose out.
Most are ignorant. There are many mild and gentle folk, who will not hurt a fly,
but will not think twice about buying silk, because the cruelty connection isn't
obvious. Those who are not, may chose to turn a blind eye to such facts. And you
know why - silk makes them look good. They are vain creatures. They place a high
premium on expensive clothes and good looks," said Heblot looking disgusted.
"So you are saying that they wouldn't mind
thousands of creatures writhing in pain and getting scorched to death, if they
can look good at a party, are you?" asked Tiker.
"Bingo!"
"Silk isn't all that smooth buddy! But catch
the earthlings finding that out! Ha Ha!"
Suddenly it sounded funny again. Tiker and
Heblot rolled on the ground with laughter.
Cosmetics?
A Cruelty-free Cosmetics Campaign was prepared in 1992 for the Hong Kong SPCA but was not put into
effect because of lack of funds.
See top of the page for links to American and UK guides.
Perfume?
Civets
DRAIZE-TESTED rabbit:
It would be wonderful if someone would come forward to produce a Cruelty Free
Guide for Hong Kong (and other Asian regions!)
See also:
Experiment Animals
On to Horse Racing
Last revised:
15-Dec-07
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