The Final Nail has posted a newly discovered fox farm in Illinois. Tim & Kim Allaman Southeast corner of Illinois State Route 164 and Illinois State Route 94 Rozetta, IL 61469 Notes: Fox farm.

The following address was obtained from public records, indicating a farm (or other type of operation) that imprisons gray fox and raccoons. Coalition Against Fur Farms has obtained hundreds of similar addresses from numerous states, each of which may be fur farms, which will be posted in the coming weeks. We will offer the same disclaimer each time: These addresses are uninvestigated. They house animals commonly used for fur, however an investigation is needed to determine the exact purpose of these operations. There are numerous other reasons furbearing animals can be held captive, including being bred for pets, roadside zoos, urine-collection operations for trapping lures, or penning operations to train hunting dogs. Some of these may be facilities which are helping animals. For example, wildlife rehabilitators and sanctuaries can often be required to have the same licenses as fur farms. Please do your research, and share anything learned with Coalition Against Fur Farms. The Texas address we obtained is: Deborah Schwartzkopf 5003 48th Street Lubbock TX Notes: Grey fox +...

The online fur farm list Final Nail has obtained an internal fur industry document titled “A Communications Plan for the North American Fur Industry.” The document is based on a focus group that was aimed to determine public opinions about fur. We will offer Final Nail’s synopsis of the document (its a big one, at 101 pages), as it summarizes the takeaways well:  The results are encouraging and a reminder of the power of the animal rights movement to shape public opinion: – Only one-in-five Americans (and 14% of women) think that trapping is conducted humanely. – Only one-quarter of Americans (19% of women) believe that mink and other animals on fur farms are raised humanely. – One-third of women (33%) cite “concerns about animals” as their reason for not wearing fur. The opinion poll was followed with a focus group conducted in New York City in March 2012. The group discussion revealed, “discomfort about wearing fur related to industry practices.” When presented with images of fur garments, focus group members reacted with feelings of warmth and luxury, but the images also suggested “animal death and cruelty.” It was clear that animal rights messages about fur, “have become part of society’s collective consciousness.” Communication Plan for the Fur...

Coalition Against fur Farms has obtained a spreadsheet containing every “furbearning animal breeder” in the state of Illinois for the year 2012. This file contains 301 addresses, which are posted below. Alternately, you can download the original Excel file (list also includes over 1,500 “game breeders” and other wildlife farms: Illinois Wildlife Breeders 2012 (download entire file)   What is the “furbearing animal breeder” list? Unfortunately, the list does not denote the species held at each farm, which would help in determining what type of operation each of these are (note: Coalition Against Fur Farms does not support keeping any animal captive, but for the purpose of furthering our mission statement, we attempt to identify businesses that are specifically involved in the fur industry). Here’s what we do know, from the Illinois Department of Natural Resourced (DNR): “[A] Fur Bearing Animal Breeder [license] is required to possess, breed and/or sell the following species: Opossum, Raccoon, Mink, Red & Gray Fox, Beaver, Muskrat, Badger, River Otter and Weasels” The most common animals raised for fur are mink and fox, which are included in the above list. So, in theory all mink and fox farms in the state are included here. However it’s worth noting that a quick search through this list for all farms posted on FinalNail.com shows that only abou1/3 of them are included. Because the addresses on FinaNail can be expected to be (for the most part) current, it raises the question: Why aren’t all farms on this list? The answer, very likely, is that many fur farms are simply operating illegally. It is extremely unlikely there are over 300 fur farms operating in Illinois, and this list is likely to include a spectrum of businesses. We encourage anyone who lives near any of these addresses to drive by and tell us what you see. CAFF is very interested in knowing which of these are in fact fur farms. Here’s the list (formatting imperfect because of the Excel source file): POTTER EDWARD R R 1 BOX 119 PATOKA 62875 GOODING EDWARD 1810 E 1650TH ST PALOMA 62359 DAVIS QUINCY 6931 S PERRY CHICAGO 60621 WEBER TAMMY 617 N 600 E RD BUCKLEY 60915...