Celebrate Fur-Free Friday!

The day after Thanksgiving is Fur-Free Friday, a day on which anti-fur protests are held throughout the country. Please take the time to speak out for the animals -- whether you attend a protest, write a letter to a company that sells fur to ask them to stop doing so, tell a friend about the cruelty of the fur industry, etc. -- because every voice counts and yours is important because millions of animals throughout the world suffer at the hands of the fur industry.

Animals in fur farms are exposed to the cold with little or no shelter, and often go crazy from living in their isolated and barren cages. They are killed by the cheapest methods that avoid spilling their blood on their fur; these methods include suffocation, anal or vaginal electrocution, or neck snapping. In some countries that provide fur to the world market, animals have been filmed being skinned alive.

Animals who are trapped in the wild either have their legs caught when they step into painful steel-jawed traps, are snared by metal-wire snare traps, or are caught in full body Conibear traps. Beavers, for example, are often caught underwater in Conibear traps and usually drown.  If the trap is baited with food, the animal will often get his or her head caught in the steel jaws of the trap. Many animals chew off their own limbs to escape from leghold traps. If an animal is still alive when the trapper returns, his or her neck will be snapped or the trapper will crush the animal’s lungs, resulting in painful suffocation. Leghold traps also pose a danger to companion animals and non-target species. Every year untold numbers of dogs, cats, and non-fur bearing animals accidentally step in steel-jawed leghold traps.

These cruelties will stop when people stop buying fur and fur-trimmed garments. We must protest stores that continue to sell fur items and educate consumers so that there is no longer a demand for animal fur.

For more info about the fur industry, check out www.furisdead.com

One person CAN make a difference -- becoming vegan saves the lives of an estimated 100 animals per year. Vegan can be defined as "one who strives to consume no products that directly contribute to animal suffering (i.e. meat, dairy, eggs, fur, wool, leather, animal-tested products, etc.)".

To learn more about veganism, you can request a FREE vegan starter pack from Action for Animals. It includes information about factory farming, health, and the environment, and also some vegan recipes and awesome stickers.

Visit http://www.afa-online.org/starterpack.html