Friday, November 26, 2010

Fur Free Friday 2010

Today I marched in the Fur Free Friday demonstration in downtown Portland. Justin had to make soap all day today but I rode the bus into the city and stood alongside 200 or so other compassionate individuals dedicated to acting up on behalf of the 50 million beings who each year are bred and slaughtered in some of the most gruesome conditions imaginable so that sickeningly selfish and obtuse people can wear their furs.

I felt pretty choked up during the march as the facts about the fur industry were broadcast and chanted by the crowd.  The statistics are so ugly: animals (often cats and dogs) skinned alive in Chinese fur farms... animals chewing off their own legs to escape... and upwards of 30 lives are given to misery and hellish suffering so that 1 jerk of a human can wear a fur coat.

It's hard for me to reflect on the reality of the fur industry (and the meat, dairy, egg and leather industries) without feeling a deep, core-shaking tremor of grief. I can imagine what it's like to be in that animal's situation, a living hell. But I added my voice to the others as loud and clear as I could because I wanted everyone who was in our path to hear the truth. If even one person today decides to stop buying fur as a result of hearing the sickening truth that can have huge impact - sparing even one creature the horrors of the fur trade is a great success.

Animals are not a commodity to be bought and sold. It's time to evolve past using our fellow earthlings for our own convenience, pleasure and sartorial self-expression.

Visit http://www.furfreefridayida.org for more information.

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