Is the fur industry really as cruel as people make it out to be?

Crueler. PETA’s investigations at fur farms have found animals being killed by anal electrocution—an electrically charged steel rod is inserted into the animals’ rectums, literally frying their insides. Exposed broken bones, upper respiratory infections, and cancerous tumors were among the wounds and diseases that animals endured—without veterinary treatment—on one fur farm that we investigated.

Animals caught in steel-jaw traps are in so much pain that some actually bite off their limbs in order to escape. Unable to eat, keep warm, or defend themselves against predators, many die horrible deaths before the trapper arrives to kill them. Others suffer in the traps for days until they are caught and killed. To avoid damaging the pelt, trappers often beat or stomp the animals to death. Most states have no regulations regarding methods of slaughtering these animals.

Whether enduring the excruciating pain of a steel-jaw traps or a lifetime of agony in a tiny cage, the animals suffer immensely. To learn more, see PETA’s factsheets on trapping, and on fur factory farms.