I always raise awareness of the plight of animals. However, I find myself particularly sad when much maligned creatures such as the coypu get an even harder time.
Therefore, I was devastated at the tail-end of last week to hear of a fashion show in New York City called "Nutria Palooza". This fashion show features a range of clothing which uses the pelts of nutria or coypu, including items such as wedding dresses, jackets and jewellery created from the distinct yellow teeth of the Mycastor Coypus. Cree McCree the designer behind this trend has coined the moniker "Righteous Fur", to describe coypu products.
Currently, due to environmental concerns over damage to fragile eco-systems along the Gulf Coast, there is a $5 bounty hanging over each and every coypu. The rewards began in 2002 and around 90% of coypu captured are killed. McCree claims that by fashioning clothing from coypu pelts and teeth, her "Righteous Fur" collective is saving the environment and honouring the creatures. I find this claim a little difficult to swallow.
McCree advises she is saving them from mass graves. The next claim I found quite insulting to a proud culture, when the designer used Native American tradition to justify her creations, stating that Native Americans would use every part of an animal they had killed. My concern is that I just do not believe that her act honours the animal in any way, shape or form.
To illustrate this point, I will sign off with this from the invite to the fashion show:
"Nutria suck. We must kill them... and then, we must take their pelts and make some guilt-free wearable fashion art!"
Guilt-free, who for?