It's a Shanda to Wear Fur

PETA just came out with new leaflets denouncing fur from a Jewish perspective, titled "It's a Shanda to Wear Fur." An accompanying Web feature similarly discusses how Jews are obliged to minimize unnecessary animal suffering (tsa'ar ba'alei chayim) and quotes Rabbi Halevi, the late Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv:

Why should people be allowed to kill animals if it is not necessary, simply because they desire the pleasure of having the beauty and warmth of fur coats? Is it not possible to achieve the same degree of warmth without fur?

It can take more than 100 animals to make just one fur coat. On fur farms, animals are typically killed by neckbreaking, gassing, and anal or vaginal electrocution--anything that won't damage their precious pelts. Fur-bearing animals are also trapped in the wild, where they lay in agonizingly painful traps, sometimes for days, and often try to chew off their own limbs in desperate attempts to escape. The world's leading fur exporter is China, where there is not a single animal protection law on the books and where animals are often skinned alive for their fur. As the Fufanus sing in this adorable cartoon, the animals "need [their fur] more than you do."

Now really is the time to take the anti-fur campaign straight to the Jewish people. Haaretz reports that Israel's Castro fashion chain announced on Thursday that the company would no longer sell fur. This amazing feat resulted from a 3-week battle waged by Israeli animal rights activists, which included several protests with 60 to 100 attendees and a petition that garnered more than 17,000 signatures. So maybe there is some hope that Jews, if not all people, can rally against fur and stop supporting such a hideously cruel industry.

With cotton and synthetic materials so widely available in clothing, there's simply no need to wear fur or other animal skins. As Jewish actor Alicia Silverstone has said, "It is the 21st [c]entury. I don't think that we should use flesh or the skin of any creature to make ourselves look good. ... We can do something that's really compassionate or something that's cruel. I really make every effort in my life to make the compassionate choice."