Better late than never!

With Christmas just around the corner, gift planning and buying in full swing, except of course for the husbands and dads who, true to tradition will leave it to the 24th of December, I've debated what to write about this week. Part of me really does want to get into the festive mood along with everyone else but then there is another feeling doing battle with that, that says, "an opportunity!! Don't miss the opportunity!" While the photos shown here, may celebrate one aspect of this holiday season, the focus of the blog is a little different. Sorry, I couldn't resist folks...

The weather has turned colder across the country and our thoughts are turning to being cozy, buying gifts, drinking hot cocoa, and Christmas trees and family gatherings. And Christmas lists everywhere have any number of toys, and gadgets and maybe, unfortunately things either made of or trimmed with fur. And true to form, because I am such an awful Grinch, I'm asking you to cross those off your list or if you are the shopper, ignore them entirely.

The bulk of the fur produced these days comes from China, a country which has absolutely no laws regarding how animals are treated. The fur on that jacket hood may come from a shepherd/lab cross, a bunch of cats, or a little animal called a raccoon dog. They will have lived in the most squalid of conditions, likely with inadequate food, little or no protection from the elements and to say that their death is brutal is inadequate and minimizes the true horror. In the interests of the holiday season, I'll refrain from going into that in any detail for now. In our country too, there are fur farms, and while there is a pretense at laws controlling how animals are treated, it is rarely policed and ultimately the end result is the same, death. The mink and fox that are killed are by nature secretive animals who have strong family bonds and the way they are raised frustrates these instincts entirely. Perhaps the equivalent from a human perspective would be a child with all the attendant needs for love and nurturing, being isolated, ignored and deprived of all that it takes for one of our own to grow to be a loving and fulfilled member of our society.

When I was in Newfoundland in the fall, we saw a wild silver fox standing at the side of the highway. In excitement, we slowed the car and pulled over. He or she, came within two feet of camera lenses, and to be honest that brief interaction with a wild creature was the highlight of the whole trip. When we came home, we were showing the pictures to friends and the minute that little beautiful wild fox came up on the slideshow, one of our friends blurted out "fur coat". She totally missed the real beauty of this moment and instead, displayed what I feel is a callousness that is all too typical throughout the world.

My Christmas wish is that while you include a little toy under the tree, for Fido or Kitty, that you would also include a gift for those tragic animals who don't want to have their body parts included amongst the glittering, beribboned packages. Give them the gift of compassion, please, for the sake of this season of Love.