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Mon 9 Dec, 2002 03:48 pm
Quote:"Furs Are in for Vagrants This Winter
Mon December 9, 2002 10:27 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - British vagrants will be wearing a variety of styles in fur this winter as an animal rights group hands out unwanted coats in its "Fur Giveaway" campaign.
"Dozens of furs, donated by people who've had a change of heart about killing animals for fashion, will be handed over to the homeless in Liverpool," a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said on Friday.
This week's giveaway is not PETA's first. It sent shipments to homeless people in Denver in the United States and, last winter, to war refugees in Afghanistan.
"We can't bring these animals back, but we can send a message that only people truly struggling to survive have any excuse for wearing fur," the spokeswoman added."
Living in Florida, I have no idea what is going on in the northern climates. Are women wearing fur? When I left in the early 1990s, before the brouhaha about wearing fur, every 20 something in New York had a mink coat.
Do YOU wear fur? What is your attitude towards people wearing fur? What do you think about animal rights groups giving fur to vagrants?
I would be just a little bummed out to find my freshly given away mink were now loitering around the public library all day. I thought it was going out of circulation.
Although it seems a bit crazy at first, if the coat has already been fabricated, someone is donating it to charity, then, heck..why not?
I am one of those people who believe that there is no moral problem with wearing fur. I DO believe though, that it is short sighted (and mostly illegal now) to kill endangered animals for as flimsy a reason as to have a stylish garment.
On the other hand, we kill animals and use their parts for many reasons, and keeping human beings warm is a perfectly sensible one. Monger correctly points at leather shoes. I don't think that anyone would want to replace leather with that manufactured stuff that is supposed to pass as leather, but is really quite inferior.
For all of those who bemoan the killing of animals, I'll talk to you about it just as you are about to cut into that juicy lamb chop!
If they do away with leather shoes, i'll be going barefoot. I cannot wear synthetic materials on my feet. Apart from the horrible smell, it eventually leads to a deterioration of the skin on my feet which looks just like the jungle rot i saw when i was in the Army Medical Corps. I wear cotton, linen, wool or silk, and i wear leather--i just can't do synthetics.
Climate in the country of my current location does not require fur clothes, but when I lived in the USSR it was very helpful in fighting cold weather. I do not think that the PETA campaigns are justified: they could advocate minimum suffering slaughter of the furry animals instead.
In the USSR, by the way, wildlife did not suffer much from the popular habit to wear furs in winter: most of fur was taken from the farm animals, mainly sheep and rabbits. And foxes, minks, sables and other animals that gave fur for export purposes were bred in the special farms in Siberia as well, so fur usage by Russians did not endanger biodiversity and ecologic balance.
I think giving the furs to vagrants is a fantastic idea! Love it!
If I were a vagrant (thanks God, I am not the one), I would not be so much happy with this. I would look in a rather ridiculous way if I add some expensive fur item to a standard cheap vagrant's clothes; this would give me a look of a loony or a buffoon.
I have two fur capes but I have felt uncomfortable wearing them because of what other people might think. One has stiff fur PERFECT for shedding rain. The other is lightweight, soft and warm, Russian squirrel and v. old.
Giving the poor these coats to wear is a way to make "rich" people who have furs feel that their stylishness has gone downhill... gotten seedy, so it is clever of the PETA.
I agree that it´s a marvelous idea.I´m also with Setanta on the footwear department.Leather all over.Leather soles come rain or shine.Which can get expensive.
I don't really care what people think when i wear fur. When it's really cold/wet, it's still the best thing. I've got an ancient Persian Lamb coat that someone donated to an environmental group a friend was fund-raising for - they couldn't face putting it in their silent auction so i bought it for a small donation. The thing literally saved my life when i once got stranded on a closed highway in a blizzard.
If donated fur will keep anyone warm, there is nothing wrong with it.
When living in Chicago, my fur was a blessing while waiting 15, 20 minutes or more for a bus or el train in January. It didn't feel so much like a luxury but a necessity with wind chills at 30 below 0.
If someone has donated their coat and it's then given to a homeless soul, more power to them. It's a smart move on PETA's part. I always felt that they were valuing animals over humans but this, handing the coats over to the homeless, makes alot more sense to me.
As far as looking loony or crazy, if I were homeless and on the street, my style of dress would be the very least of my concerns. A fur coat to throw over my tattered rags, to keep me warm, would certainly complete my ensemble, fashionably appropriate or not, and be most welcome.
british vagrants to be given unwanted furs
I do not think it appropriate to tamper with endangered species for any reason. Other than that, I can't imagine what could be wrong with wearing furs that originate from creatures that are raised for that purpose. I have a wonderful parka that I bought in Alaska years ago. It is made of furs that were legal then but are not now. I do not feel a smidgen of guilt about wearing it. (or about a couple of other furs that I've had for a long time that would be illegal now.) I love to wear them. They are beautiful. They are also very warm.
Well, Russians started growing furry animals (minks, sables, etc.) in the special farms long ago. So, wearing the furs imported from Russia does not endanger the wild nature.
I think that killing baby seals for a coat is just plain wrong, however, I dont see wearing fur as being a bad thing, especially in my country where we have a million possums that are happily volunteering to become a fur coat, or a Davy Crocket hat.
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