In this day and age, it's hard to believe that anyone still wears real fur, but sadly, many people are unaware of the horrific cruelty involved in each fur or fur-trimmed coat, scarf, and hat. The conditions that exist on fur farms are the worst imaginable. Fur farmers only care about preserving the quality of the fur, so they use slaughter methods that result in extreme suffering for animals. Small animals may be crammed into boxes and poisoned with hot, unfiltered exhaust. Other animals are poisoned with strychnine, which suffocates them by inducing painful cramps that paralyze their muscles. Gassing, neck-breaking, and the use of decompression chambers are other common slaughter methods. Crude killing methods aren't always effective, and sometimes animals "wake up" while they are being skinned. In many countries, there are no laws regulating how these animals are treated.

If you wear fur, there's a chance that you're wearing one of your dog's relatives. Millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses every year in China so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets. This fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers. China produces approximately 30 percent of the world's finished fur garments, so if you wear fur, there's no way to tell whose skin you're in.

A host of celebrities, including Sir Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Maggie Q, Charlize Theron, and Mariah Carey, have shunned fur. Follow their lead—sign the fur-free pledge today.