As shown in the above picture, the farms are relatively small, the pens are usually made from timber, and are usually the same size as shown. The front of the pens are left open to the elements, this is to keep the animals as cold as possible so their fur is the thickest. In confindment

about 17% of all mink die prematurely from the stress of confinement, bad sanitation summer heat, food poisoning, and other confinement-related illnesses. An estimated 10 million mink which are caught from the wild using leg hold traps world wide, suffer from their skin and tendons being ripped open by the traps, sometimes their bones are even broken by either the traps insintanious action, or the animals atempt to esacape. they may endure this for hours, sometimes even days, chained to a tree in snowy conditions, unable to return to thier dens and sometimes young. ultimatly waiting to be killed and skun for their pelt anyway.Even though the farm pictured is in siberia it is almost exactly what the farms in the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada look like.   Animals on farms are categorized into two types; pelting stock, and breeding stock. Pelting stock are the animals which will be killed and used for fur. This is makes up the mass of the animals held on farms, the breeding stock are animals kept for the purpose of breeding. These animals are kept; based on the quality of their bloodlines, to keep the best possible genetic history in circulation. Only a small amount of animals are kept from each "successful" bloodline to ensure the farm makes as much money as possible. Breeding cards are used to distinguish between bloodlines, these are small index sized cards which are kept on the pen of the animal; the cards show the animals genetic history. The kinds of animals kept in farms vary greatly, depending on geographical location and the demand. Fox, mink, wolf, bobcat, lynx, racoon, coyote and chinchilla are all animals which are "humanely" farmed for their pelts around the world. One of the most disturbing facts about these animals being kept in captivity is that they can all be released directly into the wild and survive. The only exception is the chinchilla, a small herbivore native to South America. However every other animal which is farmed for its fur in these farms can fend for itself in the wild. That also shows that they have a close link to their natural instincts.

  The price of fur coats, average depending on the designer and store, anywhere between US $15,000 to US $40,000. Because of the high price of modern day designer fur apparel a new product has reared its ugly head. The fur on the market which is not made from traditional fur, nor faux fur, but originates from domestic animals; dogs and cats. Of course this is not legal, it is a remote occurrence, but it is virtually impossible to distinguish from tradition fur, so who is to say how many cat fur coats are on the market right now? The reality of this is that because of the inflated price of animal apparel, there is enough money involved in fraudulent actions to motivate people to use peoples pets as material. This is almost like a form of urban poaching, for the sake of fur wearers. There is clearly to much money involved in the fur industry, an industry which is the last legal branch of animal skin sales. Don't forget that in the 1960's fur coats of cheetah and tiger fur etc were all legal, now those animals have been dubbed protected. The life of a tiger is worth no more then that of a mink, the fact that there are more mink then there are tigers in existence is no point of justification of one over the other. There is no difference in a life, they are all animals, humans are animals.    The use of domestic fur is a fact the fur industry obviously does not want the consumer to know about. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which is as follows. Most people will have more compassion for an animal that they can relate to in a domestic way, just as the idea of eating a cat or dog disgusts most  people so does the idea of wearing a "pets" fur. People can actively relate to an animal which would normally be considered as a pet, more so then they can a mink. An animal which most people probably cannot even get a mental picture of, except in the form of a coat. Society has in its own hypocrisy striped animals of their rights to suit themselves. What you end up with is what society calls animal welfare, which is basically a weakened version of animal rights. A mink fur coat is alight, but to physically harm a mink is illegal.    Domestic animals used for fur coats, more then likely come from the same places that animals used in laboratory experimentation come from. They are bred for the purpose (the most rarest circumstance), they are taken from pounds, found lost and claimed by people who find animals for these purposes as a living, stolen, donated unknowingly from articles which read "good home wanted for pet dog", etc.

   WWW.FURS.COM - states that the only thing animal rights supporters have accomplished in their anti fur efforts is to insinuate an element of fear and propaganda focused at the the fur community. Also that, Animal rights supporters have accomplished this by threatening the destruction of property, and that the incidences of direct action against fur coat owners has been non-consistant for years.

  This statement clearly fails to show an in-depth view of the actual motivations and actions of direct action and animal rights activism. It takes the easy approach to the description of animal rights and attempts to make animal rights activists appear as if they hold a personal vendetta against people who wear, and sell fur. This is a clearly simplistic view, direct action taken out under the ALF alone has been in occurrence since the 1960's it is gaining more and more momentum well into the 21st century. If it is a personally directed hate that motivates direct action then it is hard to believe that it could last for 4 centuries and still be gaining momentum.    The purpose of anti fur activism as with any animal activism, in the form of legal or illegal tactics is the exactly the same; to aid the innocent animals involved. It is not to harm the humans involved, it is not to hurt the people involved. People involved in animal exploitation may loose money or property, but if animals are loosing their lives because of that money, it is not justified. If animal rights doesnt start somewere ... were does it start? if we cant draw a line and say this is wrong, when does it become wrong? if you dont attack the problem at both the suppy and demand then how will you ever stop it?