Quote: Jennifer Ruzsa

It's the fact that they were still ALIVE that bothered me so much. I eat meat. I wear leather (because yes, it's dead when it's skinned) and I feed my dogs meat. But this skinning ALIVE, and that video... My God. What a twisted society.

We have to make our voices LOUD and we have to protest both with words and our wallets. Boycotting and *saying why* --- that's the best attack, IMO.

Connie: Thanks for the links. I hope everyone signs the petition.

What you need to remember is that in countries like China, Dogs are food just like Chicken, Rabbits, Fish et cetera.

And in countries like China, NOTHING gets wasted. They eat everything, except the true bones. Yes they eat cartilidge, too.

So if your serving up dog or rabbit, then the fur is just a by-product.

And I can attest first hand that the Chinese Food Served here in the states isn't even close to what they serve over there. By I digress. Sorry.

 Quote: Louanne Manter

What you need to remember is that in countries like China, Dogs are food just like Chicken, Rabbits, Fish et cetera.

And in countries like China, NOTHING gets wasted. They eat everything, except the true bones. Yes they eat cartilidge, too.

So if your serving up dog or rabbit, then the fur is just a by-product.

It's the skinning ALIVE. It's the sheer brutality of torturing a living being by SKINNING ALIVE. To me it is not the fact that different cultures eat different animals. It's the completely gratuitous misery, agony, torture -- of living beings.

In this country big ag has a lot to answer for in the way slaughter animals are treated and slaughtered, IMO....... but to skin a living animal........

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Jennifer Ruzsa

It's the fact that they were still ALIVE that bothered me so much. I eat meat. I wear leather (because yes, it's dead when it's skinned) and I feed my dogs meat. But this skinning ALIVE, and that video... My God. What a twisted society.

We have to make our voices LOUD and we have to protest both with words and our wallets. Boycotting and *saying why* --- that's the best attack, IMO.

And BTW, take it from a long-time activist: paper and pen makes a huge impact. The internet is great, but a letter gets attention, partly because it shows true commitment in the effort to write, stamp, and mail it.

A coat made out of 42 puppies(alsatian) how bad do you need a coat huh?? SICK
Where do you live that you have to resort yourself to have a coat made out of 42 skinned pups?!

Everyone needs to draw their own line in the sand with regards to what they will or will not accept. I refuse to lie down & accept the torturing of dogs out of respect for anothers culture. That is where I must draw my line.

I agree.

susan: i agree as well - i'd be tolerant of the fur trade if it were humane and non-wasteful. i'm okay with people eating dogs if that's their culture, as long as it's done in a humane way. heck, i wouldn't even care if animal sacrifice is your crackpot thing, again, as long as it were done in a humane way (it seldom is, from my extremely limited understanding). my wife thinks it's wrong to eat cat + dog - i tell her that other cultures feel just as strongly about us eating cow and pig.

to a certain extent i can agree with what louanne was saying, but i don't really feel respecting another's culture applies to the current discussion. i think most people feel it's not the animal the fur comes from that's the problem - there were two main issues i saw most of us take with it:

1) lying to the consumer - don't sake fake/faux if it's not, don't imply cruelty free (which is the image "faux fur" conjurs for most people) if it's not.
2) live skinning - no animal, down to a snake or bug deserves that fate.

p.s. i caution anyone who does further searching on this to avoid videos - i saw a couple courtesy of peta several weeks ago, and they're extremely graphic. gave my wife nightmares, and put me off eating for a few hours.

I agree jamie, I saw a video from Peta too a while back and I had a hard time with it I try skipping abuse videos, not something I want stored in my memorie..