I’m not a great supporter of animal rights. I enjoy eating meat and fish – though I also eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. But I do think we should treat animals with a decent amount of care and respect, and avoid the kind of cruelty that is so much a part of factory farming. It isn’t all like that, and I’ve known farmers who really care for the animals they raise and spend a great deal of time and effort in making sure that they are well treated. Of course I can’t be sure that all the meat I eat or all the dairy products come from farms like this, but we do try as much as possible to avoid factory farmed produce when we are buying food.
But there is no such thing as cruelty-free fur. Wherever countries have tried to provide less cruel conditions in fur farms the result has always been to make the farms unable to compete with those in other countries that have no concern for animal cruelty. The UK policy banning fur farms is the only sensible policy and one that should be adopted across the world.
Trapping and hunting of wild animals for their furs also involves considerable cruelty, and around the world traps are still in use in many countries that were banned here years ago. Shooting too often fails to kill cleanly, with some wounded animals escaping to die a lingering death, and young animals whose parent is killed may be left to starve.
We don’t need to wear fur, and for almost any purpose that fur is used there are better vegetable or synthetic alternatives. Most fur used now is simply decorative, and even when produced under cruel regimes is still expensive. It’s become just a marginally less crass way than sewing large denomination notes onto clothes for people to say “look how effing rich I am darling.”
Wearing fur – including fur trimmings – had more or less become unacceptable in polite, civilised society, but recently some parts of the fashion trade have been trying to rehabilitate it. We shouldn’t need a Campaign to Abolish the Fur Trade in the twentyfirst century, but unfortunately we still do.
Boycott Harrods – the only department store still selling furs
More on My London Diary about the National Anti-Fur March and more pictures
Almost all these pictures were taken with the 24-70mm f2.8, which was pretty much an ideal lens, enabling me to work close in and at a reasonable shutter speed and ISO in the rather poor light. There were just a few times when I wanted something longer (usually considerably longer) and rather more where something just a little wider was called for. I think the ideal kit on full frame would have at its centre something like a 20-50mm lens, but unfortunately they don’t exist.