Action for Animals Austin

No matter how stylish you are, no matter how rich you are, buying fur should not be on your winter wish list.

Not according to Julian Gold, an upscale women's store in downtown West Austin that continues to sell fur. Action for Animals Austin is calling on Austinites to be fur-free so that we can help stop this brutal fur industry right here in our own city. Here's why:

Millions of fur-bearing animals including foxes, raccoons, minks, coyotes, bobcats, lynxes, opossums, nutria, beavers, muskrats, otters, and others are killed each year on fur farms by anal and vaginal electrocution and in the wild by drowning, trapping, or beating. Ranch-raised foxes are kept in cages only 2.5 feet square (minks in cages 1-foot-by-3-feet), with up to four animals per cage.

To kill the animals without damaging their fur, trappers usually strangle, beat, or stomp them to death. Animals on fur farms may be gassed, electrocuted, poisoned with strychnine, or have their necks snapped. These methods are not 100 percent effective and some animals "wake up" while being skinned. There are no federal laws providing protection for the millions of animals who suffer and die on fur farms.

Take action now by signing our petition calling on Julian Gold to stop funding the cruel and wasteful fur industry.

Your signature could help stop some of the worst abuses done to animals that would be criminal if done to our cats and dogs.

No animal should have to endure such atrocious harm in the name of fashion. Witness the cruelty on video here (it's graphic). There are many other companies who have stopped selling fur due to public pressure; Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, J.Crew and others have stopped using fur in their designs and we think this is the decent, humane thing to do.

If you agree, please sign our petition and invite your friends and family to do the same. Then go one step further and print out our downloadable flyer (PDF) that says "I'm Fur-Free," hold it up and strike a pose for the camera. Then make your fur-free photo your profile pic on our Action for Animals website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. (See my profile pic as an example.) Your fur-free statement sets a good example that we should all have kind standards when it comes to looking fashionable.

Julian Gold will hear us if we unite our voices together and call them out for still selling fur. Action for Animals will be updating you as our Julian Gold no-fur campaign moves forward this holiday season.