coyote attacks rising across US

There’s a lot of fur fashion updates to cover this month, but let’s start with a topic that we’ve been seeing in the media way too often: coyote attacks. We are getting stories from all over the US about coyote populations getting out of control. There’s a dog who has lost part of his leg, stories of missing cats, and other pet injuries all thanks to coyote attacks. Yet many local governments haven’t hired trappers to deal with the problem, and we want to know why!

It is beginning to appear as though the life of a pet dog or cat is worth less than that of a coyote. Or are people scrambling to find a non-lethal way to control the populations? Whatever the case, coyotes attacks are on the rise and people don’t seem to be realizing that trappers are the solution. (Trappers will also be the solution for this wild hog infestation in Georgia.)

While we are on the topic of trapping, Yukon trappers are set to have a good year (below) as very cold weather gives rise to hopes of prime pelts.

Prime fur pelts make warmer garments
Prime pelts are thicker and make for warmer garments, says the Yukon Trappers Association. Photo: Philippe Morin/CBC.

Vegans Unlucky in Love

Meanwhile vegans are having less of a good time, especially in love. Twenty-eight percent of singles said they wouldn’t go out with a vegan. It doesn’t come as a huge surprise to us, as you might end up with an animal rights activist, who will want to spend their weekends protesting outside IKEA or who will compare pig farming to the holocaust. These people simply aren’t right in the head. And we particularly loathe this one, who says we shouldn’t call vegans extremists while glossing over the fact that there are activists dishing out death threats to us omnivores.

And of course animal rights activists are behind the ridiculous decision by San Francisco’s city council to “ban” fur. Let’s keep “ban” in quotation marks, because local wild furs and used furs and shearling will still be sold, but it is a ridiculous decision nonetheless, and this article does a good job of highlighting both sides of this case.

SEE ALSO: Sheep fur: Pam Anderson hates it, Ralph Lauren loves it

Hypocrite Versace “Doesn’t Feel Right”

Charlotte Simone candy-colored scarves
London-based designer Charlotte Simone is known for her candy-coloured scarves, in both real and fake fur. Photo: Charlotte Simone.

Moving on to fashion, we’ve got good news and bad news. Starting with the bad, another hypocritical fashion company has decided to stop using fur. This time it is Versace, and according to Donatella Versace (their creative director), “It doesn’t feel right” to kill animals for fashion. But strangely enough … she will continue to sell leather, exotic skins, shearling, and silk. Do you smell a hypocrite?

SEE ALSO: Hypocrite profile: Stella McCartney

Some fashion companies’ hypocritical decisions to stop using furry animals, but not leather-y animals is unlikely to have a big impact on the industry, as the customer continues to want to wear fur. They want colourful furs, like those of Charlotte Simone (pictured above), they want to wear fur at the racecourses, and they want fur-trimmed parkas. The Chinese have an especially big appetite for fur, in fact it’s the biggest fur market in the world. Speaking of fur parkas, Yves Salomon, a famous furrier and maker of trendy fur parkas, had some great things to say about fur in this Forbes article.

Another big news story from March was that of plastics – in our oceans, in our drinking water, and in our food. Apparently microplastics are in bottled water, plastic fibers are filling our oceans, and larger pieces of plastic are forming islands in the oceans. It’s a terrifying situation, and one culprit is all the synthetic clothing we’re consuming. How about just sticking to the natural stuff?

SEE ALSO: Sustainable fur: Global campaign highlights benefits of real fur over plastic fake fur

buffalo fur jacket from Frontier
Jason Momoa’s signature buffalo fur jacket in Frontier, a historical drama about the fur trade of the 1700s shot in Newfoundland and Labrador. Photos: Caroline Hillier/Discovery Canada.

Let’s end the roundup with some notable links from last month.

This article about a family who adopted a pig from a shelter and then decided to eat it resulted in a vibrant discussion on Facebook. Our verdict? We have no problem with people eating pigs, even their own pigs, but we don’t think it was very fair that the shelter spent time and resources nursing the pig back to health, only for it to be eaten.

It’s not your typical costume department: here’s what it’s like working on the wardrobe team for the TV show Frontier (pictured above).

This Toronto chef has found an innovative way to deal with protesters in front of his restaurant: he decided to butcher and eat a deer leg in front of them. The best part? It has resulted in media coverage all over Canada and even in the US. Thanks to the animal rights activists, this restaurant is getting a ton of free press.

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