The following is a write-up on the subject of the origin of furs such as pelts, skins, or even scraps. I feel it is important to anyone who may be interested in such things, and will clear up a lot of misconceptions.

http://critter-collectors.deviantar.....blog/29832144/

There has been some confusion about this in the past, so allow me to clear something up:
The majority of the furs I own.have owned were killed by humans. From my tiger pelt killed from the hunts of the British Empire to the coyote tails from processed pelts of tanneries. Whether killed for meat, fur, pest-control or accident.

The mentality behind the animal parts I sell operates under the assumption that it is better to use what is already dead than to waste it. I buy secondhand, vintage, or found (bones in the woods, for example) parts of animals. To be specific, I will need to give an example.

I go to anime conventions. I have for several years now. Over these experiences, I have seen many people wearing fox tails. Back then I was horrified- I said "WHERE ARE THOSE FROM??" and they said "Ooh, they were roadkill." I am not even kidding- every time I asked, it was "roadkill", "natural death" or "I don't know".

Now I know better. A 20-inch golden-sun or platinum fox tail does not occur in the wild. To make a long story short, those people became my first target audience- I began to sell coyote tails, cast-off or considered scrap by the tanneries or taxidermists that processed them. I don't claim to be any "better" than people who make their living selling farmed animal skins, but I personally feel more comfortable with people using coyote tails from animals that are considered pests and often left to rot because the fur market is so low than using fox tails from animals that are raised specifically to die.

I respect fur farms that treat their animals humanely. I understand that they play large and important roles in Agriculture and the economy. I know that the much-talked-about "skinned alive" fur farms are the magnified minority that exist in places, such as China, that have very low animal rights laws. However, I am still uncomfortable with the basis of the idea behind them.

I am also anti-fur-hunting, but very pro-RIGHTS to hunt. I know hunters. I have yet to meet one who "hates" animals, as the city-slicking PETA members I sometimes meet tell me they do. I like eating something that was killed in the wild, with a bullet through the head, instead of something raised to die. and I know that killing an animal for its fur does not translate into wasting the rest of the animal.

For these reasons, I strive for this:
-To use what would otherwise be wasted.
-To divert potential money from fresh-animal-product-producers towards animal products that were made years ago (in essence, the mentality behind vintage clothing).
and
-To help people understand that nothing about the use of animals is black and white.



Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry if this was tl;dr.