National Geographic covers fur issue

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/09/skin-trade-fur-fashion/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/wildlife-china-fur-farming-welfare/

National Geographic is a good magazine. That said it is skewed in its stand on geographical issues (obvious). They should have also toured some mink farms in Wisconsin to see the difference in animal care. My next fur is not coming from China just for the animal care and labor issues.

In the same manner that it falls to the consumer to insist that the diamonds they purchase are not funding an African civil war, it also falls to the consumer to insist that the fur they purchase comes from animals that were either raised humanely or trapped in an ecologically sustainable manner. Livestock operations in East and Southeast Asian countries very often have abysmal care practices, and not just with respect to fur-bearing animals. This stands in contrast to North American and European countries, which adhere to what (depending on country) are probably the most stringent animal welfare regulations in existence. The fur industry is a soft target (no pun intended) for criticism on grounds of inhumane treatment and waste, but it ain't necessarily so: sourcing is everything, because it determines whether or not waste and inhumane treatment were part of the production process for a given fur garment, and for many furs, they were not. I really like the idea of grading animal welfare standards alongside pelt quality, because it helps to make the fur industry better at its practices, not to mention a less-obvious target for inaccurate and misleading criticism.

This stands in contrast to North American and European countries, which adhere to what (depending on country) are probably the most stringent animal welfare regulations in existence.

How can you write this with a straight face?

Factory farms for livestock exist in both North America and Europe. Pigs, chickens, and cattle live in HORRENDOUS conditions. Animal welfare? It doesn't exist on factory farms. Let's not kid ourselves. Mink, sable, and foxes were never meant to live in cramped cages.

Nothing I said is untrue, but I'll clarify what I mean. I'm not denying the existence of factory farms in Europe and North America in which animal welfare is given a bare-bones minimum of consideration. Commodity meat is an ugly businesses indeed, and conscientious consumers would do better to patronize other sources to obtain products of better quality from animals that were treated decently. What I'm saying is that countries in the West generally make a better effort with respect to legislating and enforcing animal welfare standards than countries in the East, on paper and in practice alike. Standards for the welfare of captive/domesticated animals are indeed most stringent in the West, though I completely agree with you that they still aren't stringent enough for many species.

That being said, I think the variable that makes a factory farm a factory farm is density, i.e. number of animals being reared per unit of space at a given moment in time. Many fur farmers would disagree with you that their operations are particularly high-density, or that their animals live in cramped or stressed conditions. Furthermore, I daresay that many of them (especially those based out of Europe or North America) would be honest in saying so.

It's not just density that makes a factory farm a factory farm. It's what the animals are fed and the fact that they live indoors in the case of pigs and chickens. All livestock should live outdoors. Cattle should be eating grass and clover, not low quality feed corn. Pigs and chickens should be raised on pasture or in woodland in the case of pigs. No laying hens should be kept in cramped cages stacked one on top of another. Pigs should not be kept on concrete or metal flooring.

I never said anything about fur farms being high density. If you've seen sables in cages, you will see they climb endlessly around the cages. They are high strung, high energy animals and a life in a cage is a miserable existence.