NHES hopes to appeal to every single fashion designer's sense of compassion and NHES also encourages the public to persuade all designers to stop using real fur in their designs. If any one person is still unaware of how fur-bearing animals are trapped and raised, the following information should help dispel any myths perpetrated by the fur industry.

The steel leghold trap is the most commonly used trap in the United States. The suffering begins with the traps jaws slamming shut on the animals limb. The main physical damage, however, is caused by the animals desperate struggle to free itself. Torn flesh, broken bones, dislocated shoulders, and severe dental injury are common. Some animals struggle so violently that they actually kill themselves in their attempt to escape. For those who do not escape, the agony can continue for days, until the trapper arrives to club, strangle or stomp them to death.

Fur ranches can be described as long rows of wire mesh cages under a shed. A fence surrounds the ranch to prevent animals from returning to the wild when they escape from their cages. The standard measurements for mink cages are 28x10x26. The cages, flooring included, are made of wire netting, which makes it difficult for the animals to walk on, especially the young ones. They sometime fall through the wire into the feces.

Often the feed for minks is mixed with the carcasses of fellow minks which have died off-season. The watery feed-stuff is often mixed with an anti-freeze in the winter. They receive their food on the top of their cages, which they lick up through the mesh. In winter they have to eat quickly because the feed might freeze and this presents another hazard in the short, sad life of these innocent creatures.

At a time when more and more people are learning how inhumane the killing of fur-bearing animals is and ae offended by the sight of fur coats and any item with real fur, we are disheartened to learn that your store is still selling fur.

The raising of minks, like the raising of any fur-bearing animal, is a callous, inhumane business:

By nature minks are solitary animals. In captivity, as many as 8 minks live in cages less than 3 feet long by 16 inches wid.

Stress causes minks to bite their own skins, gnaw at their limbs, and constantly run up and down their cages for hours at a stretch. Recent research has shown that 70% of the minks exhibit stereotyped behavior.

Head circling, jumping up onto the sides of the cages, and sham feeding are exhibited in half of the minks studied.

Thousands of captive minks in the US die from bacterial contamination of their food and from contagious diseases that sweep through overcrowded, dirty mink sheds.

NHES strongly objects to the use of real fur. Animals killed for their fur suffer in numerous, horrific ways. No compelling reason exists for subjecting animals to pain, suffering and death when viable synthetic alternatives exist. NHES implores designers as well as the general public to discontinue the use and purchase of any real fur.

We appeal to both designers and consumers-please consider the countless lives of innocent animals and refrain from the use or purchase of real fur in fashion.