Etsy is a global online marketplace that specializes in vintage, handmade, and artisanal products from independent entrepreneurs who can connect to the platform's vast network of more than 93 million shoppers. The site has a hip, charming, and personal vibe that hides the fact that, beyond supporting small businesses, Etsy is also profiting from immense animal suffering.
By selling the wares of animal trappers and furriers, Etsy is helping keep a declining industry built on pain and animal cruelty afloat.
Rabbits, foxes, mink, coyotes, beavers, lynx, and more are all killed so that individuals can buy and sell their pelts on Etsy.
Animals held on fur farms are subjected to miserable and often torturous lives before they are eventually killed through violent means, including electrocution, gassing, or bludgeoning. Species such as mink and foxes, who are naturally active and wide-ranging in the wild, are typically confined to small wire cages where they cannot run, swim, dig, or engage in other natural behaviors. The extreme confinement and stress can lead to severe psychological distress, including well documented self-mutilation. Fur farms have also been shown to be fertile breeding grounds for infectious diseases, including zoonotic pathogens that can pass to humans.
Undercover investigations, even on farms that claimed to maintain high welfare standards in Europe, have documented animals with festering sores, open wounds, missing limbs, and untreated infections. In some particularly grim cases, investigators have found the bodies of dead animals left in cages alongside living mink.
Animals trapped in the wild for their fur do not escape the suffering of this industry either. Fur-bearing animals are commonly caught in body-gripping traps and snares that cause extreme pain. These devices can break bones, tear ligaments, and cause deep wounds as animals struggle to escape. Trapped animals may endure hours or even days of agony before traps are checked. During that time, some animals die slowly from dehydration and exposure, while others succumb to internal injuries. Still others are killed by predators while immobilized and unable to defend themselves.
These animals do not deserve to die for the vanity of the fashion industry, and a brand like Etsy — one that prides itself on being a hub of human-centered, handcrafted, artisanal products — should not be supporting the kind of violence, suffering, and disease risk that are so intricately tied to the fur trade.
Etsy claims to value sustainability, but despite what many believe, fur is far from environmentally friendly. Fur production is highly energy-intensive, has a significant carbon footprint, requires toxic chemicals for processing and preservation, and fur farming generates large amounts of waste and pollution.
Etsy already has policies in place to prevent the sale of materials derived from endangered species, such as ivory, and it prohibits the sale of pelts from cats and dogs. The company should now take its concern a step further.
Take Action Now
Please join Species Unite in calling on Etsy to join the growing movement of major fashion houses across the globe that have banned fur, and remove fur products from its platform for good.
