The First Silent Vigil in Toronto

Yesterday marked the first official day of the Fur Trim Is A Trap campaign, and we also had the first Silent Vigil for Victims of the Fur Trade. It was an incredible day, despite the chilliness. Around 80 people assembled to pay tribute to the animals killed for the fur trade, either as target or non-target animals. They bravely held signs, deactivated traps, and the campaign banner, which asks “Is fur trim worth this?”.

We handed out thousands of postcards, and engaged in lots of exciting conversations. For me, the most rewarding parts of the day were when I had the opportunity to actually talk with people wearing fur trim. One particular individual stands out in my mind.

One of the things we wanted to focus on with our vigils, is that they are a safe environment for all people to ask questions and learn more. But even still, I didn’t expect many people in fur would come talk to us. It takes mega guts to approach a group of people holding signs asking you to stop wearing fur, when you’re wearing fur! But it happened on several occasions yesterday. One individual’s eyes went as wide as saucers, as I showed him how a leghold trap works, how it restrains the coyote, how long the coyote has to endure the pain and panic she/he must feel, how some animals will chew or twist off their own limbs to escape, and what horrible ends awaits her/him when the trapper returns. He couldn’t believe it. So while these vigils are more about preventing future fur purchases (hence our ‘Thank You’ campaign postcards), we were pleasantly surprised by the positive interactions we had with people wearing fur trim.

We even had on gentleman who was originally walking past us, join the vigil. He had no idea about the inherent violence of the fur trade. Now he’s our newest volunteer.

Overall, the vigil was incredibly well received, and the wonderful participants seem to have enjoyed themselves immensely! To see CityTV news coverage of the vigil, please click here. Coverage begins about 2 1/2 minutes in.

Hope to see you there next week, same time, same place! And if you’re curious, come on out!

For the animals,
Shannon

One comment on “The First Silent Vigil in Toronto”

Roxy on December 7, 2012 at 3:56 pm said:

I’ve been distributing the Fur Trim is a Trap postcards, and find that only about 1/15 people will reject my postcard or give it back to me. The vast majority actually read it and keep it. This shows that people are interested to know if their trim came from absolute torture. They do care, they just don’t see the process. Even before I learned about the way any animal is “processed” for food or materials like fur, I couldn’t have imagined that animals suffer such horror. People want and need to know. If you ask people what kind of fur they are wearing, very few even know. That’s how invisible and distant the production process is to consumers. It all needs to be exposed.

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