“Wear your own skin.” “Real people wear fake fur.” “Cruelty is one fashion statement we can do without.” “Are clothes really to kill for?” “Animals have rights too, they just have a hard time speaking up for them.” These are just a few possible slogans for potential campaign against animal cruelty. Most people are not in favor animal cruelty, but rather they are unaware of the true situation. People's perception could be that the animals are harvested for meat after death, they don't feel the pain when the chemical is being rubbed on their skin, maybe that it really is not such a big deal, or that it just cant be as a horrible thing as it is being advertised. In reality they aren't harvested, it does hurt, and it really is that bad. It is clear through history that fur has had many different meanings in society, while in today’s time chemically cruel based products have become a daily part of people's agenda and thus more issues. The abuse for fur demonstrated on these farms is completely disgusting, disgraceful, and barbaric. The cruelty for products tested in the laboratories are utterly vulgar, crude, and unthinkable. What is really happening, what are the alternatives? How have things changed, how should things change? All questions that need answers.

               At the beginning of mankind, the use of animals was a necessity. “Civilizations living in colder climates often relied on animal fur for survival” (Lodi). The reason it was so often used was the lack of other materials and sources. It was all people had as wild creatures without proper shelters to survive. In the 15th Century the fur represented your royalty rank. The furs they wore were not common and considered special. It was absolutely not an everyday attire even for the royalty. This mind set and worth of fur lasted a long time. “It wasn’t until the mid 1800’s that animal fashion products began to be mass produced. Around this time, fur gained its status as a luxury good and as a result, fur farming began” (Lodi). It was still in the early 1900’s that people separated themselves from others in wealth based off of the animal products they wore. It was a statement to symbolize your true achievement.

              The fight for fur and protests for animal rights did not truly begin until the the late 20th century. “In 1977, Bridgette Bardot became the first celebrity to actively participate in a campaign against animal skins. The campaign she was a part of was sponsored by Greenpeace and pushed for end to the clubbing of seals for their skin. Despite the formations of anti-fur and skin movements, it wasn’t until the mid 1980s that the anti-fur and skin campaigns began to have an effect on the industry” (“Animal Cruelty”). It was then in 1980 when PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was begun. It is now the largest animal rights organization in the world. Now in the 21st century fur has become a normal piece in people’s wardrobes and personal fashion. Thousands of identical coats, scarves, and hat pom poms are sold around the world to everyone (“Animal Cruelty”).“The fur of today, whether real or synthetic, is more mainstream, easily attainable and somewhat season-less – and a trend that more and more ready-to-wear designers are catching on to” (Lodi).

              When it comes to the clothing  today, there is a lot of cruel and horrific torture being exacted upon innocent animals. Fur farms scatter the nation. Minks, fox, rabbit, and even beavers are used to the open world, being free and able to roam in their habitat are kept in small condensed metal cages. The farms themselves are in horrid conditions that are completely and entirely inhumane. “The animals’ short, miserable lives are spent in squalid surroundings, where they suffer injuries, infections and deformities.” Most of the animals begin, live (if you can even say that), and end their lives in the same place. “A large proportion are bred and killed purely for the fur.” These poor rabbits, foxes, and minks have no chance to roam and burrow. Their lives may seen short, meaningless, and full of agonizing misery, but their deaths are just as quick. To insure minimal damage to their naturally beautiful coats, they are either put through horrific electrocution, gassing, snapping of their necks or just merely beaten. Raised in small, condensed cages that they are never allowed leave, they live in constant physical and especially mental pain.

All of this just so that their beautifully naturally worn coats can be seen on walking runways, strutting in the street, or hanging in ones closet. When it comes to the animals captured directly from the wild it is just as impossible to comprehend.  Seals are also an animal affected by the fashion world. “The sealskin is taken from seals that are clubbed to death at two weeks old.” White foxes suffer a similar fate. “White foxes that are caught from the wild in steel-jaw traps are in so much pain that some bite off their limbs in order to escape. (“The Fur Trade”)” They are forced to live these lives that were not intended when they evolved over so many years.

              One animal often not considered are sheep. Sheep create warm thick wool that can be shaved off and they easily grow back causing no harm to them, but in some cases this is not true. “Undercover investigations have documented how heavily pregnant ewes are killed and their unborn lambs removed for their coats” (“The Fur Trade”). The means far out way the outcome. “When producing one mink coat, it requires approximately 60 to 80 mink skins to form the coat” (“Animal Cruelty”).  The cruelty these animals suffer is incredibly tremendous and there is no reason for it with all the alternatives and the ultimate means that are being done.

              When it comes to alternatives and ways that this can be stopped there are many options. All across the designer, fashion, and clothing manufacturing world there are many new materials being made that are just as desirable as fur and leather. Stella McCartney being a huge advocate for the fight against fur has dedicated many of her fashion lines to primarily campaign. She “launched her own alternative, dubbed ‘Fur Free Fur’ and composed entirely of modacrylic. During her autumn/winter 2015 show in Paris, she presented models swathed in shaggy blanket coats closely resembling fur” (Lodi). Faux fur nowadays is almost impossible to separate from a real one for when people are still in desire to have the “luxury” of the idea behind fur. For people that truely can not imagine wearing faux and the idea of fake could just as easily buy vintage. The whole idea behind alternatives is to not give money to the companies and brands that are currently selling the painfully made fur products. Already made, older, and basically irreversible existing coats could be a substitute for giving the companies a supply and demand (Williams).  

In laboratories around the world are testing products on innocent little animals and putting them through torture. There are many different ways animals are used for science and product testing. When it comes to establish the threat of too much exposure the chemical will be “administered to animals (usually rodents) in extremely high doses via force-feeding, forced inhalation, and/or eye or skin contact. Animals in the highest-dose groups often endure severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, convulsions, seizures, paralysis, or bleeding from the nose, mouth, or genitals before they ultimately die or are killed.” These animals are put through serious and agonizing pain.

              When it comes to testing “eye and skin irritation and corrosion tests,” the concentration is trickled into the animal’s (usually a rabbit) eyes or somehow besmirched onto their exposed cleanly shaved skin. Then the scientists take the data for the reactions “which can include inflamed skin, ulcers, bleeding, bloody scabs, swollen eyelids, irritated and cloudy eyes, or even blindness—at specific intervals for up to two weeks.” One would think that if they are going to put these animals into this torment they would give them a way to relieve it, but there is no condition as to whether or not the animal should have or be given any in advance of the testing.

              The worst part that is true when it comes to these specific eye and skin testing is that they often impaired due to the “anatomical and physiological differences” that there is among people and the rabbits eyes. Rabbits eyes are nowhere near to being as a person’s eye and making it very hard to get an accurate result, thus making it clear that this form of testing needs to be stopped.

The way that skin sensitization is tested is through guinea pigs and mice. The guinea pigs are infused with the chemicals and then watched for any allergic reactions. The mice, on the other hand, have the chemical tested on their ears where they then also watch them. Then they are killed so that the ear can be removed and looked at closer (“Product Testing”).

               There are so many ways, organizations, and campaigns all around the world in which all of these torture on animals in laboratories can be changed. There has been a lot of development in the field of testing for how a chemical will react if exposed to people. “In September 2015, the PETA International Science Consortium cosponsored an acute systemic toxicity workshop with the goal of developing a strategy to replace in vivo acute systemic toxicity testing.” While for the eye and skin irritation testing there has been countless ways to replace the abuse on animals. “The fluorescein leakage (FL) test method uses a fluorescent dye to measure a chemical’s ability to break through a solid layer of cells, thereby mimicking the damage that the chemical would cause to the eye.” There are also non-harmful methods like EpiOcular, Recombinant human epidermis (RHE), EpiDerm, SkinEthic, and Corrositex. There is also some circumstances when people will volunteer to be tested on, which is a form of animals testing when the subject can have a choice and wants to be there rather than forced. There are clearly many ways to top problems when it comes to scientists using rabbits, mice, and guinea pigs and we are still left with the archaic methods being used (“Product Testing”).

                 There is no excuse for this crime to have remained so real and prominent given all the resources and research offered. Around the world it is clear there is so much being done, but we have also a lot being left behind and disregarded. People of the world, especially the young and next generation, have a role and influence that is being put to good use and should explore the realm of animal rights. Standing up for those who don't have a voice of their own. People need to become more aware of what is happening on these farms, the laboratories, and the deaths that are happening to make trendy clothing and expensive skin care.