Gourt > Society > Issues > Animal Welfare > Animal Rights > Fur Trade
The fur trade (also called the Indian trade) was a huge part of the early history of contact in North America between European-Americans and American Indians (now often called Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada). European traders and trappers explored the continent and established relationships with native communities, hoping to obtain the best furs and pelts—beaver was especially prized—for European markets. Native hunters exchanged pelts for European-manufactured items that were desired in their communities, such as metal tools, firearms, clothing, and alcohol.
Often, the political benefits of the fur trade became more important than the economic aspects. Trade was a way to forge alliances and maintain good relations between different cultures. Consequently, there was much rivalry between different European-American governments for control of the fur trade with the various native societies. American Indian peoples sometimes based decisions of which side to support in time of war upon which side provided them with the best trade goods in an honest manner. Because trade was therefore so politically important, it was often heavily regulated in hopes (often futile) of preventing abuse. Unscrupulous traders sometimes cheated natives by plying them with alcohol during the transaction, which subsequently aroused resentment and often resulted in violence.
The fur trade came to a close as game was depleted by overhunting, as expanding European settlement displaced native communities from the best hunting grounds, and as European demand for furs subsided. In order to continue to obtain European goods and to pay off their debts, American Indians thereafter often resorted to selling land to the European settlers.
More on [ Fur trade ]
Fur Farming :: Livestock
Trapping :: Hunting
Hunting and Shooting :: Animal Rights
Letter About Palin Goes Viral
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:05:00 -0400
This week in Wasilla, Alaska, a woman named Anne Kilkenny sent a letter to some college friends about her former mayor, Sarah Palin. By week's end, the letter was pinging around the country and Kilkenny's phone was ringing off the hook.
Teen Sex, Sex Education And Sarah Palin
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:39:00 -0400
Gov. Sarah Palin has been a strong supporter of programs that advocate abstinence until marriage, and she also opposes explicit sex education. Alaska's law is silent on these issues, however, and it provides no specific funding for sex education in the schools.
Examining Palin's Pentecostal Background
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:14:00 -0400
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has electrified religious conservatives who see her as one of their own. The Republican vice presidential candidate brings evangelical credentials to the ticket and has a Pentecostal background.
The Talk of the Town
Dorothy Wickenden: An old-style, Los Angeles feminist on Obama.
Dorothy Wickenden Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
Rosalind Wyman--seventy-seven years old; doughty feminist; political fund-raiser and philanthropist; hostess to J.F.K., Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, and Hollywood types too numerous to count; youngest elected member of the Los Angeles City Council (at the age of twenty-two); first woman to run a national political . . .
Lauren Collins: The Brooklyn painter Kehinde Wiley.
Lauren Collins Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
The painter Kehinde Wiley first travelled to Nigeria in 1997. He was trying to find his father, whom he had never met, or, more crucially for a portraitist, seen. (His mother didn’t have any photographs.) After several weeks in Lagos, he found his dad, who welcomed him. But--like any . . .
James Surowiecki: What drives market volatility?
James Surowiecki Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0000
American investors are frazzled. True, oil prices have fallen from their most vertiginous highs, the dollar is a bit stronger, and the stock market has actually risen over the past month. But none of those things have happened in a smooth and steady fashion. The stock market’s “ascent,” in particular . . .
British Fur Trade Association - Building greater awareness of fur related issues and helping to dispel myths about production.
CNN: McCartney backs anti-fur fashion - The revival of fur on the catwalks for winter 2002 shows that animal rights activists are having difficulty converting the fashion industry. They have a strong advocate in British designer Stella McCartney: Everything in [my] store and every single garment and accessories that you see is cruelty free in the sense no animal has died to make anything in here. Karl Lagerfeld: It should be handled in the nicest way but as long as we eat meat and wear leather, I don't even think there is a subject to discuss.
Meta Description: [ The revival of fur on the catwalks for winter 2002 shows that animal rights activists are having difficulty converting the fashion industry. ]
Fur Commission USA - A non-profit organization representing over 600 fur farming families in the US.
Meta Description: [ Fur Commission USA is a non-profit association representing over 600 mink farmers in the United States ]
Fur Free Action - Provides ways to take meaningful action against the fur trade and some easy ways to help prevent the killing of animals for their fur.
Fur Free Alliance: inFURmation - Information center on the fur fashion trade including its animal welfare and conservation impacts on wild and domestic species. Sponsored by HSUS and the Bellerive Foundation.
Fur Information: A Look at the Fur Industry - Personal page abour fur farming and fur trapping includes rebuttals for reasons people give for buying fur. Photos and links to other anti-fur sites.
Meta Description: [ Fur Information, Links and Resources on Fur trapping, and Fur Farming ]
Fur is not Fabric - Provides information about the inhumane use of fur in fashion, provides steps to take to protest this use, and shows celebrity support of the cause.
Fur-Free Friday - Site includes anti-fur facts, photos, the history of the event and links to related sites. From CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade) and LCA (Last Chance For Animals). Not updated since 1999.
HSUS: Fur and Trapping - Articles and suggestions from their campaign to make trapping and the fur trade illegal. Includes Fur Free activist guide. From the Humane Society for the United States.
Meta Description: [ The Humane Society of the United States ]
New York Times - The War Against the Fur Trade Backfires, Endangering a Way of Life - Native Canadians discuss the antifur campaigns of IFAW and Greenpeace that began in the late 1960's, and how the Hollywood rich people, bleeding hearts and self-righteous groups have killed the Inuit way of life and replaced it with oil, gas and mining interests. Free registration required.
Observer: Fur is all the rage as sales rise 35pc - Retailers believe fur's sudden popularity is partly fuelled by a new generation of consumers rebelling against the anti-fur movement and the political correctness of the Nineties.
Respect for Animals - Campaigns against the international fur trade, both fur farming and trapping. UK.
Meta Description: [ Respect for Animals campaigns against the cruel fur trade, believing fur farming and trapping to be morally indefensible. ]
Scotsman: Gimme some skin - More than 300 designers have used fur in their shows this year, rolling back PETA's 1994 'I'd Rather Go Naked' campaign with Elle MacPherson, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell (only Turlington and MacPherson remain fur-free).
Telegraph: Gisele left exposed on catwalk by fur protest - Campaigners from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, invaded the runway during the Victoria's Secrets show in New York targeting one of the most prominent models to wear fur since it began to creep back into acceptability in fashion circles.
Meta Description: [ Get the latest UK news and World news from the Telegraph. Your source for sport news, business news, travel news, motoring news and property news ]
Telegraph: Pop singer brandishes skinned fox in protest against the fur trade - The singer Sophie Ellis Bextor and the photographer Mary McCartney, the daughter of the former Beatle, have donated their services to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for their campaign against the increasing popularity of fur.
Meta Description: [ Get the latest UK news and World news from the Telegraph. Your source for sport news, business news, travel news, motoring news and property news ]
| it is reality. Inside the Chinese Fur Trade ... Cruel trade puppy minutes usa beijing Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Shock ... | |
| Next Video | |
