Would you wear fur ???

I didn't know where else to put this, but I needed to share this amazing news article:

Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers' Traps—A First

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Wild gorillas Rwema and Dukore destroy a primitive snare in Rwanda earlier this week.


Ker Than

for National Geographic News


Just days after a poacher's snare had killed one of their own, two young mountain gorillas worked together Tuesday to find and destroy traps in their Rwandan forest home, according to conservationists on the scene.

"This is absolutely the first time that we've seen juveniles doing that ... I don't know of any other reports in the world of juveniles destroying snares," said Veronica Vecellio, gorilla program coordinator at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Karisoke Research Center, located in the reserve where the event took place.

Bush-meat hunters set thousands of rope-and-branch snares in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, where the mountain gorillas live. The traps are intended for antelope and other species but sometimes capture the apes.

Adults are generally strong enough to free themselves. Youngsters aren't always so lucky.

Just last week an ensnared infant named Ngwino, found too late by workers from Karisoke, died of snare-related wounds. Her shoulder had been dislocated during escape attempts, and gangrene had set in after the ropes cut deep into her leg.

The hunters, Vecellio said, seem to have no interest in the gorillas. Even small apes, which would be relatively easy to carry away for sale, are left to die.

Poachers build the snares by tying a noose to a branch or a bamboo stalk, Vecellio explained.

Using the rope, they pull the branch downward, bending it. They then use a bent stick or rock to hold the noose to the ground, keeping the branch tense. A sprinkling of vegetation camouflages the noose.

When an animal budges the stick or rock, the branch springs upward, closing the noose around the prey. If the creature is light enough, it will actually be hoisted into the air.

Every day trackers from the Karisoke center comb the forest for snares, dismantling them to protect the endangered mountain gorillas, which the International Fund for Nature (IUCN) says face "a very high risk of extinction in the wild."

On Tuesday tracker John Ndayambaje spotted a trap very close to the Kuryama gorilla clan. He moved in to deactivate the snare, but a silverback named Vubu grunted, cautioning Ndayambaje to stay away, Vecellio said.

Suddenly two juveniles—Rwema, a male; and Dukore, a female; both about four years old—ran toward the trap.

As Ndayambaje and a few tourists watched, Rwema jumped on the bent tree branch and broke it, while Dukore freed the noose.

The pair then spied another snare nearby—one the tracker himself had missed—and raced for it. Joined by a third gorilla, a teenager named Tetero, Rwema and Dukore destroyed that trap as well.

The speed with which everything happened makes Vecellio, the gorilla program coordinator, think this wasn't the first time the young gorillas had outsmarted trappers.

"They were very confident," she said. "They saw what they had to do, they did it, and then they left."

Silverbacks in the Kuryama group have occasionally been caught in the snares, so Vecellio thinks the juveniles would have known the traps are dangerous.

"That's why they destroyed them," Vecellio said.

Despite the unprecedented nature of the event, Vecellio said she wasn't surprised by the reports. "But," she said, "I'm always amazed and very proud when we can confirm that they are smart."

Veterinarian Mike Cranfield, executive director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, also said he wasn't shocked by the news.

"Chimpanzees are always quoted as being the tool users, but I think, when the situation provides itself, gorillas are quite ingenious," he said.

Cranfield speculated that the gorillas may have learned how to destroy traps by watching the Karisoke center's trackers.

"If we could get more of them doing it, it would be great," he joked.

Karisoke's Vecellio, though, said actively instructing the apes would be against the center's ethos.

"No we can't teach them," she said. "We try as much as we can to not interfere with the gorillas. We don't want to affect their natural behavior."


:smt023
 
Sad ^^. No fur for Stizzy. But I wear leather sneakers/shoes and belts. I think they're made from cows after being slaughtered for food. I guess I'm in the clear.
 
No I just wouldn't because its just yuk.

My mum had this fur stole thing when I was very young, and I'm sorry but it just smelt weird!

I'm no vegan or activist, or anything else, I eat meat, I drink milk, and yes I wear leather, but I would never or could never wear fur.
 
I was on pinterest the other day and stumbled over a pin that praised the love for real fur. It made me sick to the stomach.

http://pinterest.com/source/furfashionguide.com/

I'm an animal lover through and through and I get really violent thoughts when I see females praising the skin of dead animals.

I let them know how disgusting I think it is, and they called it "having a negative opinion about their pin".
Come on, that's like me praising rape or child abuse and saying I don't wanna hear people's opinion about it.

It's just a shame that animals don't have rights in this world that protect them from being hunted and abused.
If they did, we could do more than just comment, we could finally sue your cruel ignorant asses.

All you ladies who think you look so elegant and sexy in a fur coat.....FUCK YOU! You are nothing but heartless bitches! :smt013

This is for you:


[YOUTUBE]Lkx23jgApac[/YOUTUBE]

I know and I love you for it :freehug:
I wish there were more people like that in the world...

Never, ever, ever would I wear fur. I agree with you about wishing animals had more protection. Hurting a defenseless animal is a cowardly act and should be punished more severely than it is.

I never cared for the look, whether it was real or fake fur. But I feel like I have no right to get up in arms about it because I eat meat and have leather shoes/accessories (when I can afford them.)

stay away from leather too
 
I remember receiving fur for Christmas as a five year old. I was actually horrified. I refused to wear it. That incident is one of the many reasons why I am vegan today. And I don't wear fur, leather, wool, silk, etc.
 
No fur anything for me. I don't want a fox, chinchilla, mink or a wolf coat in my wardrobe. And I sure as hell would not buy a woman a fur coat, hat or even a stole, shawl or wrap.
 
I think new Fur items should be illegal, antique furs are different, unless you have a time machine you can't help those animals.

Outlaw fur and have the same restrictions on it as you have on Ivory, prove it's before a certain date and if you can't it goes on the bonfire.
 
I have only worn clothes with artificial fur optic looking parts,but never real fur,and I would probably feel very uncomfortable wearing real fur.
 
That's an easy question for me as a guy: no. There aren't that many items for men that use a lot of fur. So I don't have to face the moral question.
 
I would never wear fur. I'm the crazy lady on the corner throwing buckets of blood on people wearing fur.

Have you done what Julianne Moore did in the film Assassins? In that film, she sprays red paint on the back of a snobbish woman's fur coat without her knowledge. And, without her knowledge, that woman was spreading Moore's message. It was classic.
 
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