Every year, more than three million animals of\nvarious species are killed for their fur in Canada. However, there are no laws\nor regulations that set minimum standards for how these animals are housed,\ncared for or handled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine if, in Quebec, dogs and cats were maimed\nin traps and left for long hours in excruciating pain? Think of the public\noutcry that would ensue if they were electrocuted, kicked or bludgeoned to\ndeath!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet this is the sad reality of animals trapped or\nraised for their fur in this province.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cruel traps<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Fur Institute of Canada,\nQuebec is the Canadian province that traps the most animals annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several trapping devices are permitted in\nQuebec; all are designed to keep animals captive against their will. Some traps and snares are lethal,\nwhile others are equipped with jaws designed to hold the animal by one leg. The\nuse of killing submarine and live-capture traps is legal, as well as drowning\nsystems that are used to hold certain semi-aquatic animals, such as beavers and\nmuskrats, underwater by one leg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many\nof these cruel traps are banned in more than 60 countries, as well as in\nseveral American states.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even when the animals\nare not injured by the trapping device, they can be left in the trap for up to\na week, exposed to the elements and predators, suffering from hunger, thirst\nand self-inflicted injuries as they try to free themselves. When the\ntrapper finally returns, animals who have not already died are stomped, bludgeoned,\nchoked to death or killed using other brutal methods.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fur farms<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Canada, more than 85% of fur comes from fur\nfarms. Since the animals raised there\u2014mainly foxes and mink\u2014are not\ndomesticated, they retain their wild instincts, but cannot express these in any\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, mink are semi-aquatic animals who,\nin the wild, spend more than 60% of their time in water. On farms, however,\nthey are kept in cages no larger than two sheets of paper, without any\nopportunity to swim. And although solitary in nature, they are forced to live\nsurrounded by thousands of other mink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Foxes usually travel long distances in the\nwild. However, on farms, they are confined in cages with wire mesh floors,\nunable to express their natural behaviour or interact normally with other\nfoxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Animals bred for fur spend their entire lives\nin these tiny cages, living in their own feces. They also develop repetitive\nbehaviours – a sign of psychological distress. When it comes time to be stripped of their fur, minks are killed by\ngassing, and foxes are killed by anal electrocution. These methods are standard\nand legal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sentient beings<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Three million animals are cruelly killed for\ntheir fur in Canada every year. That is, three million sentient beings who do\nnot deserve to suffer in this way. Foxes, for example, are social animals that\nlike to play and run just like domestic dogs, their canine cousins. Shouldn\u2019t\nthey both share the same right to a life without suffering? Why do we love one but\nwear the other? <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not to mention the disastrous\nenvironmental impacts of the fur industry. The unbelievable amount of waste produced\non farms, as well as the chemicals used to treat animal pelts, are as harmful\nto our ecosystems as they are to human health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cruelty is not fashionable. With the many available\nalternatives to fur today, it is senseless to cause millions of animals to\nsuffer and, by extension, to destroy our ecosystems and pollute our\nenvironment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Together,\nlet\u2019s put an end to this inhumane practice by saying no to fur. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine if, in Quebec, dogs and cats were maimed in traps and left for long hours in excruciating pain? Think of the public outcry that would ensue if they were electrocuted, kicked or bludgeoned to death!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n