Protect the Environment by Using Fur?
How Is That Possible?

Good question, and not as simple as some people would like to think.

In today's world, with an environmental balance much altered by man, sometimes the best way to protect wildlife is to harvest it carefully.

Consider the very different cases of the New Zealand oppossum and rabbit, and the African zebra and springbok. Their stories are quite different but the result is the same—protecting the natural environment by enlightened use of their furs and skins.

Native to North and South America, oppossum were introduced to New Zealand by white settlers. With few natural enemies to slow the menace, their abundance threatens native animals and forests. Estimates put their numbers at over 100 million. That's nearly two oppossum for every one New Zealand sheep!

New Zealand Greenpeace has labeled the oppossum "a major destructive force in the New Zealand environment." And the New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society call oppussum a "plague" and say it welcomes "...efforts to maintain a market for oppossum fur in the face of the anti-fur campaigns run by overseas animal lovers."

And it's the same with rabbits, which have multiplied like, well... rabbits!

In other words, one good way to help New Zealand deal with its oppossum and rabbit problems is to encourage people to wear the fur of these animals.

In Africa, the situation of the zebra and small antelope known as the springbok, whose very existence is under assault, turns on quite a different reality.

Threatened by human poachers and a diminishing natural habitat, these and other magnificent animals are protected from mass slaughter at the hands of the burgeoning human population by government-run game preserves. To keep an environmentally healthy balance in these fragile parks, however, it is necessary to manage the density of the herds.

That is, for the benefit of the species some animals must die.

The real issue, then, is what to do with the remains. Clearly the best approach is to use the hides in ways that encourage hard-pressed African governments to recognize the economic value of their game, and to invest in conservation practices for tomorrow.

As an enlightened fur manufacturer, Fun with Furs acquires its zebra and other African hides from a firm licensed by the United States Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service. Our supplier deals directly with the nature conservation departments of Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and all of the raw materials imported for us are generated from locally determined game control practices.

The animals that are culled end up giving their lives so that others may flourish. And the revenues received by the various African governments from game control plays a crucial role in funding each country's game preserves.

People who wear and use these hides are therefore doing their part to preserve these beautiful animals and the environments that nurture them.

Protect the Environment by Using Fur? Absolutely!