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The Animals

Beavers
Beaver

Beavers are extremely gentle, family-oriented animals who mate for life and remain life-long friends with their children. The second-largest rodent in the world, beavers can live 19 years, reach 60 pounds, and grow up to 4 feet long. Baby beavers, or kits, are usually born to hard-working, loving parents who have been together for many years. Female beavers are especially busy as they care for their young while looking after their rambunctious “teenagers.”

Beavers are master architects—their complicated, well-built lodges can stand for years. These “busy beavers” are constantly concerned with repairs to their homes, taking obvious pride in their work.

At one point in time, these amazing animals were hunted and trapped almost to extinction. Although they have avoided extinction for the moment, beavers are still in constant danger. The body-gripping traps used by trappers to capture and kill beavers cause these sensitive animals immeasurable suffering. In many cases, Conibear (body-gripping) traps fail to catch the animals quickly or on target. If the traps do not kill the beavers immediately, they drown slowly and can suffer for up to 20 minutes. Death by drowning is extremely cruel—the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) condemns it in its 2000 Report of the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia.

Rabbits
Rabbits

Rabbits are extremely social animals, living with their families in underground burrows called warrens. They can hop faster than a cat, human, or white-tailed deer can run. Rabbits love nibbling on alfalfa, timothy hay, apples, carrots, and crisp, green veggies, and they chew vigorously to trim their front teeth, which never stop growing. They communicate through body language, marking their territories like cats by rubbing their chins on twigs, rocks, or other landmarks. People who have adopted domestic rabbits from shelters know that they can be extremely affectionate, snuggling with their human companions and gently nuzzling their necks. Rabbits are sensitive, smart animals with individual personalities, just like dogs and cats. They make lifelong bonds with other rabbits and humans, play with toys, and can even learn to use litterboxes.

Like other animals “farmed” for their fur, rabbits—who are extremely clean by nature—are kept in tiny, filthy cages, surrounded by their own waste. They spend their entire miserable lives standing on the thin cage wires, never having a chance to dig, jump, or play. The methods of slaughter are inhumane—they are killed by having their necks broken or having their skulls beaten in before being strung up by the legs and having their heads cut off.

Foxes
Fox

Foxes are intelligent, nocturnal animals who rely on their big bushy tails to spread scent in order to communicate. Instead of being the “chicken thieves” that some farmers claim they are, foxes usually survive by eating fruit, berries, roots, carrion, rats, and slugs. Foxes play an important ecological role, as they “clean” the environment, and their survival often depends upon the amount of available food in their territories. Although they usually live one to two years, foxes have been known to survive nine years if left alone by humans, their sole predator. Female foxes work together to care for their families’ babies, and young foxes ultimately learn how to take care of themselves through play.

Unfortunately, many young foxes are not given this opportunity to learn from their mothers’ and aunts’ gentle nudging. Instead, they are raised on factory farms in tiny, filthy wire cages. Many of these foxes live for years in hideous conditions before farmers kill them and sell their fur to make coats, cuffs, collars, and trim. Others are caught in steel-jaw leghold traps, which crush their legs until trappers arrive to beat them to death hours or days later. In many parts of the country, frantic foxes are pursued by starved hunting dogs for “sport.” Once the dogs catch up to them, the terrified foxes are torn apart, limb from limb.

Minks
Mink

Sometimes called “marsh otters,” minks love to swim and are often found near water. In the wild, minks are generally territorial and solitary and often travel long distances, sometimes using the dens of other animals as “hotel pit stops.”

Minks raised and killed on fur factory farms are kept in small cages and denied access to water to swim in, causing them untold stress by repressing their natural urge to swim. Cramped wire cages prevent minks from indulging their innate desire to roam, and factory-farmed minks are often seen bobbing their heads and pacing in their dirty cages—disturbing, repetitive behavior that is a sign of severe psychological distress.

Chinchillas

Chinchillas are shy, intelligent animals who eat vegetables and fruits and can live up to 15 years in the wild. Social “chatterboxes,” these sensitive, nocturnal animals can spend all night long just talking to one another. Fastidiously clean, they require frequent dust baths to care for their extremely dense fur. These “fluff fests” also provide invaluable moments of comfort and entertainment—moments that are denied to caged chinchillas who are cruelly “farmed” for their fur.

Originally found only in South America, chinchillas are now bred by fur farmers or pet store distributors who then sell them as “pets” to often ill-informed people. On a fur farm in Midland, Michigan, PETA investigators witnessed chinchillas who were suffering from painful seizures after being electrocuted or having their necks broken while they were still fully conscious.

Raccoons
Raccoon

Raccoons are fuzzy, beautiful animals with tell-tale black “masks” around their eyes. They can live seven years or longer in the wild. Raccoons are omnivores and eat frogs, fish, eggs, fruits, nuts, insects, and grain, among other things. Although they are primarily nocturnal, raccoons are often seen frolicking during the day when they haven’t detected a human’s presence. They are intelligent animals (often figuring out the most complicated locks) who, sadly, have had to adapt to the loss of their habitat by human development.

Hunted by starved dogs as foxes are, raccoons are often the victims of cruel humans. And like foxes, raccoons often suffer in steel-jaw leghold traps, where they endure hours of agony before they are killed or chew their own arms or legs off. And like chinchillas, rabbits, and beavers, raccoons are constantly in danger from those who covet their fur.