fur: Threat to Fur-bearing Animals

The depletion of fur-bearing animals was strikingly indicated in the fate of the sea otter on the Northwest Coast. The threat of similar extinction of the fur seal later led to the international quarrel called the Bering Sea Fur-Seal Controversy (see under Bering Sea). Because some fur-bearing animals were in danger of extinction, the U.S. government in 1969 enacted the Endangered Species Act, which bans the importation and sale of pelts of such animals as the polar bear, the jaguar, and the tiger (see endangered species). Since the 1960s the clubbing of baby fur seals has become the focus for considerable concern among the various humane societies of Canada and the United States, and since the 1980s the protests of animal-rights groups led to a decrease in popularity of all furs.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Synthetic Fur
• Threat to Fur-bearing Animals
• The Fur Trade
• Bibliography

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