FUR SALES UP! (keep it up, PETA)

NBC NEWS /TODAY | 2/9/03 | chiller

[chiller]

NBC's Sunday Today show just ran a story reporting fur sales were up in '02, about 1/2 billion dollars to approx $2.1 b. Despite trends in recent years.

Sales could be related to cold weather in east, or as one fur proprietor said, 'no one will dictate to our customers'. Peta types recommend synthetic furs.

[chiller]

Keep it up, PETA. Your tactics are clearly working.

[chiller]

Don't ya' just love it when these idiots get their due. I get all tingley to see America is showing some common sense in rejecting the crazy-ass ideas of these environmental wackos. What's especially gratifying is the increased publicity these roaches have received over the last year or so. IE; "We're not buying your load of crap, PETA."

But, by all means, keep it up.

[PackerBoy]

My wife is a vegetarian and is totally opposed to wearing fur. She also prefers not to wear leather, but says she is forced to do so because of the way purses and dress shoes are made.

I guess I am what you would call an omnivore, and I see no problem with people wearing fur or leather.

However, even I have a slight concern about whether the animals eventually harvested for food or apparel are treated cruelly. (Note I did not say "humanely".) I would like to think that my shoes and belt were made from a milk cow that lived a full life in a meadow, and passed away in its sleep from old age. But I know better. Same thing as to my McDonald's hamburger (although maybe not such an "old" cow).

If we all grew up on farms where they fed the cows and then killed them and cooked and ate them, I suppose we all would have a different perspective.

[geege]

I was into furs years ago....not anymore....to me it's a turn off.....I now prefer wool and cashmere for winter warmth:0)

[chiller]

That's exactly what I did, until college. Our dairy cows did indeed live in a pasture, to a ripe old age. Happy cows are producive cows. Just like capitalism; happy customers generate more business.

[exit82]

"PETA types prefer synthetic furs."

I prefer synthetic PETA types, myself.

[chiller]

Animals die.(wasn't it the Disney chairman who reminded cutie Katie Couric of that fact when one of their wales died?)

Should their leather be wasted?

[jimtorr]

As long as you are aware that PETA has at times even protested at the cruelty of using electric shears to remove the wool from terrified sheep. Electric shears can cut the animal, you know.

[chiller]

Correct, jimtorr...

...and btw, I've sheared sheep, too. If they're "terrified" they rarely show it. Very docile. They seem totally unaware they're losing their 'coat.'

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm not head ringer or anything, but I've helped shear sheep.

The electric shears can pinch if you hold them wrong, but the old mechanical shears can CUT. Of course a good shearer isn't going to even nick his sheep.

And they ARE stupid. They don't seem to object to being sheared, but they're heavy and sometimes you have to manhandle them about to get the fleece off in one piece.

[MadelineZapeezda]

Everyone's wearing fur this season!

[Balding_Eagle]

Animals do die, but not from old age. They are slaughterd for food, leather, etc. That's how we get calfskin gloves for example.

In the words of the once great Martha Stewart, That's a good thing.

[Nakota]

Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people are growing up on farms and the type of farm where you grow your own food and raise, kill and process your own meat are becoming even more rare. More is the pity. I think the nation loses part of it's soul when most of the population is estranged from the land.

[chiller]

Same thing as to my McDonald's hamburger (although maybe not such an "old" cow).

BTW, if I had to guess, I'd say McDonalds buys beef from old cows, steers, whatever. Cheaper. I'll bet someone here could verify.

[geege]

I know it's sad but what are ya gonna do......I have to wear a coat in the winter!!!!!!!

[PackerBoy]

I think you said what I was thinking, but more eloquently than I could have said it.

Whether it is a pity, I suppose, is debatable -- although I agree with you. But the reality is that we modern, urban types have no concept for what grime and gore it takes to bring that lovely and scrumptious Surf 'N' Turf dinner to the restaurant table -- and we SHOULD know about it. Just as we should know what it takes in terms of material and labor to make that pair of $150 tennis shoes.

This kind of brings up the shuttle Columbia. If everyone undestood just how tough it is to make a spacecraft and just how dangerous space travel really is, they might be slower to jump to hasty conclusions about the cause of the problem and the quick solution.

Now, whoever thought there would be a PETA connection to the shuttle disaster.

[cajun-jack]

McDonald's has beef??????? I've never found any there...soy patties with melted fat poured over them is more like it.

[M.K. Borders]

Started trapping again this year. Had a great season. Thanks PETA.

[jimtorr]

My nephew used to keep goats, but I've never been around sheep at all, so I have no idea. Somehow all I ever see on t.v. or in movies is the sheep who seem afraid, and are struggling to escape. Shown for drama or mood, I'm sure.

[AnAmericanMother]

Maybe our sheep were just particularly stupid, but once you threw them over backwards in sort of a sitting position, they just lay there and didn't struggle.

It may depend on the breed of sheep, maybe ours were particularly docile. I think they were Merinos.