Fur Real?

Each year, millions of virtuous animals are tortured ad killed cruelly for the fur on their backs. Not only is their fur stolen from them but it is also brandished down catwalks, through cities and on our television screens so our kind can attempt to make a fashion statement. While this scenario may seem like something from a horror movie it is in fact our harsh reality and happens on a regular basis. Worldwide, more than 40 million animals are killed for their fur – 85% are bred and killed on fur farms and the rest are trapped in the wild. This figure does not include the thousands of millions of rabbits killed for the fur trade. The most commonly bred animals on fur farms are mink and fox, but the industry also breeds and kills polecats, raccoons and chinchillas. It is estimated that two million cats and dogs are also killed for their fur. There are 6,500 fur farms in the EU. Europe is responsible for 70% of global mink fur production, and 63% of fox fur production. The countries that farm the most animals for their fur are Denmark, China and Finland. The fur industry makes on average 1.3billion pounds in retail sales.
The fashion world is forever changing in order to keep up with the latest trends, for example in 1994 five of the worlds biggest super models posed with an 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur' billboard for an anti-fur campaign. These Famous models were: Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer. They were considered in high regard of the fashion world and therefore their actions influenced others to join the anti-fur campaign and protest. This brought awareness to their plight and in doing so the act of wearing fur became a social crime and those who were considered guilty of wearing real fur seemed to invite abuse from strangers. As years went by times and attitudes changed however. Christy Turlington was the only supermodel that stuck to her word; the other four women went back to promoting fur down the catwalk.
Fashion is infamously fickle and the famous slogan “it takes 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat...but only one to wear it” is a critical slogan that many designers and models have seemed to ignore. The question remains however with what seems to be an increase in the numbers joining the fight against innocent animals having to lose their lives as a result of us gaining a winters coat; why do so many people insist on still wearing real fur? It would seem that many people believe that the most obvious benefits with wearing animal fur is that it can keep an individual warm when it is cold. It would also appear that another reason that fur coats are often worn is due to its association with class and wealth which tends to be very important with people who like to keep their image on point and depend on their looks as a crucial part of making up an area of their personality. An example of this would be Lady Gaga. She has previously stated in 2011 : “ You see a carcass, I see a museum piece de resistance.” Lady Gaga quoted this to her fans when discussing her love for animal fur and as a protest towards the public's negative views on her wearing it. Gaga believes that wearing fur that comes from the back of beautiful animals will create a beautiful and flawless effect on herself. She is willing to pay a small fortune to obtain real fur as she feels it is worth it. However in contrast to her behaviour Lady Gaga also claims that she believes in animals rights? It would appear that either Lady Gaga hasn't done her research to how the fur is obtained from the animals or