Fred the Furrier
Date: Sun, Jul 11 2004
Letter to the Editor
New York Times
Considering that Fred Schwartz, better known as "Fred
the Furrier," is a Holocaust survivor, I'm surprised that he didn't question
where the fur pelts came from. The lampshades and soap that were products of
the Jews who didn't survive, some no doubt made of members of his family and
mine, might have given him an inkling that the "pelts" came from once
living, breathing creatures who had family ties and a strong desire to live.
To laud a contribution to a good cause made with blood
money is discomforting. Let's follow the horror back to the trapping itself:
An animal remains in a trap frightened for days,
starving, thirsty; the killing is often blunt force to the head that has to
be repeated over and over; the restraint is done with a boot pressed into
the throat; and sometimes the poor animal is skinned alive to keep the pelt
soft.
Imagine the screaming, the terror, the atrocity of what
humans do to animals for fur.
This isn't acceptable no matter who does it. That one
has suffered at the hands of another does not give them moral license to
cause suffering to those weaker than they.
Mr. Fred Schwartz may otherwise have been a nice man. I
am just amazed that the Holocaust experience did not arouse sufficient
empathy to cause a career change.
Anne Muller, President
Wildlife Watch, Inc.
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