The
following is from Gabrielle Allen, a Colorado vegan and former marketing director, librarian and community relations manager for a national bookstore. Gabrielle currently devotes her time to writing and
animal rights activism
On Friday morning, November 29, 2013, the day
some call “Black Friday” or the biggest shopping day of the year, I too will
set my alarm, slip into my black combat boots and a warm jacket, and head out
to Denver’s prestigious shopping district, Cherry Creek. That’s where I’ll pick up my signs, find a
good spot to stand, and join thousands of others around the globe by speaking
out against the fur industry. Don’t get
me wrong! I love fashion and getting noticed for my personal style. A look in my walk-in closet or a brief
conversation with my husband will easily confirm this. But I refuse to make a fashion statement by
exploiting animals that nature equipped, for good reason, with warm, fuzzy coats
for which they are now inhumanely slaughtered in the name of fashion.
I’ll spare you the gory details about the day
to day business of fur farms--the electrocution, the skinning alive part, the
small wire cages, and the fact that it often takes more than 40 animals to
produce one coat--mostly because I myself can’t bear that visualization. But think about it! We have become such a conscious, caring
society; checking if our morning coffee is truly fair trade because we want to
make certain that the farm worker in Guatemala is earning a living wage. We recycle with a passion to conserve
landfill space; go through great length to purchase a dining room set made from
sustainable wood; drive energy efficient cars and keep our thermostats at
moderate temperatures to do our part in the fight against global warming, the
extinction of polar bears and the destruction of the rain forest. And yet, we thoughtlessly take some of our
fashion cues from starlets and designers who tell us fur is where it’s at.
I once owned a fur coat. It was my mother’s gift for my twenty-first
birthday. The label called it a
“gaywolf” fur. I didn’t wear it for long,
because my neck, wrists, and other parts of my skin that came in contact with
the fur, developed an unsightly, irritating rash. Years later, when I chose a German Shepherd
mix from a local shelter as my companion, an identical rash returned whenever
we cuddled. Over time, I grew out of this
allergic reaction, but I now live with the strong suspicion that the beautiful
grey and tan fur of the coat I wore many years ago once belonged to a sad dog,
bred and imprisoned for slaughter in a Chinese dog fur farm.
Fur is not green. Fur is not pretty, and, I know, it’s been
said before, fur simply isn’t ours to wear.
If you still have a fur coat in your closet (or know anyone who does),
now is the time to get it out and donate it to an animal shelter or wildlife
rehabilitation center so that it can be used as bedding for newborn pups or
orphaned wildlife. And instead of
fighting the early morning crowds for that discount deal at your local
department store, why not head outside, grab a sign and some leaflets, and take
this message to the streets: Fur Kills!
Go to http://www.peta.org/action/cruelty-free-friday/
for a list of worldwide Fur-Free Friday events, or click on http://www.meetup.com/AnimalActionNetwork/events/119935552/
to learn where
and when to join local activists in and around Denver. Hope to see you there!
Oh, and those
black combat boots? They aren’t leather
either. But I’ll save sharing that
conviction for another time.
