Happy New Year from all of us here at Truth About Fur! Following is a round-up of major news items dealing with fur in 2014. We’ll be sending out monthly updates this year, or you can visit Fur In The News on the Truth About Fur website.

Farmed Fur in the News

Mink farmers look to expand into Argentia area. By Andrew Robinson, The Telegram (Canada), Dec. 12, 2014.

The mink behind the wire: Inside Ireland’s fur farms. By Wayne O’Connor, Sunday Independent (UK), Aug. 10, 2014.

Wisconsin’s mink farmers adapt to growth, changes in fur marketplace. By Maureen McCollum. Wisconsin Public Radio, July 28, 2014.

Wisconsin mink production up 8 percent last year. Associated Press, July 25, 2014.

US mink pelt production at 3.54 million in 2013. National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), US Department of Agriculture, July 24, 2014.

California men accused of releasing 2,000 minks from Illinois farm. Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2014.

Mink farming. By Kris Sims, Sun News Network, June 3, 2014.

Fur farmers celebrate as court throws out ban on mink farming. Dutch News (Netherlands), May 21, 2014.

Adventures in the skin trade. How the Danes became masters of the global fur business. The Economist, May 3, 2014.

Mink prices drop as global production rises. By John O’Connell, Capital Press, Apr. 28, 2014.

Member states add exceptions to invasive species banned list. Exceptions introduced for “species of economic importance” after heavy lobbying by mink breeders. By Dave Keating, European Voice, Feb. 2, 2014.

Farming mink to meet market demand. Video, InnovationOxford, Jan. 25, 2014.

Wild Fur in the News

Alex Van Bibber, an incredible Yukon trapper, just may have been the toughest man in Canada. By Tristin Hopper, National Post, Nov. 28, 2014.

Yes, the anti-seal campaign is about money. By Peter Jackson, The Telegram, Nov. 26, 2014.

Trapper to trapper, a telling of tales. By Carol Sones Shetler, The Luminary, Nov. 24, 2014.

Fur Institute of Canada applauds government’s support of Canadian trappers. Fur Institute of Canada, Oct. 1, 2014.

Manitoba MP defends trapping after RCMP mull phasing out muskrat hats. CBC News, Sept. 30, 2014.

Ottawa overturns RCMP decision to swap muskrat fur hats for wool tuques. CTV News, Sept. 30, 2014.

Fashionistas revive NZ fur trade. By Sophie Lowery, 3 News, Aug. 31, 2014.

Trapping wild animals on the rise in North Carolina. By Jim Lasley, News & Observer, Aug. 6, 2014.

Maine bear management program releases data, says baiting, trapping and hounding necessary to control bear population. By Aislinn Sarnacki, Bangor Daily News (Maine), July 10, 2014.

Greenlandic seal fur first experience. By Lady Fur, July 10, 2014.

Nunavut, Greenland pledge co-operation on seal ban fight. CBC News, July 7, 2014.

Beaver Brothers hit the big time. Atigonish County trappers wade into reality television with Animal Planet series. Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia), July 4, 2014.

Thousands expected at trappers, fur takers convention in Washington County. By Dave Zuchowski, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 19, 2014.

Europe’s unfair ban on Canadian seal products can stay to “protect public morals,” WTO rules. By Tristin Hopper, National Post (Canada), May 22, 2014.

EU seal product ban upheld in WTO appeal. CBC News, May 22, 2014.

An oral history of the Newfoundland seal hunt. By Burton K. Janes, CBN The Compass, May 20, 2014.

Most Europeans don’t like “public morality” trade bans: survey. Nunatsiaq News, May 15, 2014.

Beavers bite into East Ferris budget. By Gord Young, The Nugget (Ontario), May 11, 2014.

Required trapping class in Minnesota helps young trappers learn proper, ethical techniques. By Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota), May 11, 2014.

B.C. traplines auction the first in several years. CBC News – British Columbia, May 6, 2014.

The only people making money off the seal hunt are anti-sealing campaigners. By Terry Audla, Huffington Post, Apr. 28, 2014.

We went on a fur run in the Northwest Territories. By Pat Kane, Vice Magazine, Apr. 16, 2014.

Connecticut a player in global fur trade. By Erik Hesselberg, The Courant, Apr. 6, 2014.

Fur heritage fades as trapper’s work Canada’s loneliest. By Greg Quinn, Bloomberg, Mar. 19, 2014.

Trapping to save a culture: How the fur trade funds a camp that connects Canadian youth to tradition and nature. By Joseph Boyden, National Post (Canada), Mar. 7, 2014.

A country built on fur: Trapper Gordy Klassen practises his own “brand of activism”. By Jodie Sinnema, Edmonton Journal, Mar. 3, 2014.

Fur Auctions in the News

Adventures in the skin trade. How the Danes became masters of the global fur business. The Economist, May 3, 2014.

NWT wild furs take top dollar at international auction. Global tensions drop fur sales from last year’s record high. By Maria Church, Northern Journal (Canada), Apr. 14, 2014.

Design & Fabrication in the News

Pretty pictures: Remix 2014. By Alexandra Suhner Isenberg, Searching for Style, Mar. 14, 2014.

Interview: Rachel F. talks fur and Montreal fashion. By Giuliana Contavalli, The Main (Montreal), Mar. 10, 2014.

Real fur – in every colour of the rainbow and endorsed by celebrities – has crept back into fashion. So what changed? By Olivia Bergin, The Telegraph (UK), Feb. 28, 2014.

From Russia with love. The story of J. Mendel is a fashion fairytale … By Jesse Ashlock, New York Times, Feb. 7, 2014.

Fur Retailing & Consumers in the News

Hamilton location “best move I ever made,” designer says. By Meredith MacLeod, Hamilton Spectator (Ontario), Dec. 15 2014.

Is fake fur even worse than the real thing? By India Sturgis, Daily Mail (UK), Nov. 23, 2014.

I made my first real fur purchase and it came with free stigma. By Courtney Brunson, xoJane, Nov. 7, 2014.

Hinsdale Furriers’ fashion director tells all. By Ginny Richardson, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 10, 2014.

The entrepreneurs: Next generation fur is a one-woman affair. By Paul Delan, Montreal Gazette, Sept. 10, 2014.

Real fur is making a comeback in the fashion world. By Francesca Fearon, South China Morning Post, Sept. 5, 2014.

Fall fashion photos: Ferociously furry. By Eva Friede, Montreal Gazette, Sept. 5, 2014.

Bio: Jamie Cahill. By Sarah Frank, My Kawartha, Sept. 9, 2014.

Sleeping on animal fur in infancy found to reduce risk of asthma. European Lung Foundation, Sept. 7, 2014.

Detroit’s fur industry still here after 300 years. IPR Public Radio, Sept. 3, 2014.

Have British consumers bought into “ethical” fur? By Oliver Duggan, The Telegraph (UK), Aug. 15, 2014.

Fur flies and West Hollywood (“WeHo”) fur ban is upheld by federal court. JD Supra, July 7, 2014.

LaBelle Furs carries on, hot weather and all. By Sara K. Clarke, Orlando Sentinel (Florida), May 11, 2014.

West Hollywood upholds ban on fur. By Emily Farra, Style.com, May 8, 2014.

FTC approves amendments to Fur Products Labeling Act regulations. US Federal Trade Commission, May 7, 2014.

Pappas Furs closes after 100 years; Store with an international reputation started in Prince George in 1913. By Jenny Lee, Vancouver Sun, Apr. 15, 2014.

Global fur trade is worth as much as Wi-Fi. By Belinda White, The Telegraph (UK), Mar. 27, 2014.

5 observations of the fur industry. By Alexandra Suhner Isenberg, Searching for Style, Mar. 17, 2014.

Animal Welfare vs. Rights in the News

Yes, the anti-seal campaign is about money. By Peter Jackson, The Telegram, Nov. 26, 2014.

Fur is popular, and is produced responsibly. By Alan Herscovici, letter to the editor, Montreal Gazette, Sept. 10, 2014.

California men accused of releasing 2,000 minks from Illinois farm. Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2014.

Europe’s unfair ban on Canadian seal products can stay to “protect public morals,” WTO rules. By Tristin Hopper, National Post (Canada), May 22, 2014.

West Hollywood upholds ban on fur. By Emily Farra, Style.com, May 8, 2014.

Public morals are a slippery slope. By Mark Oaten, CEO, International Fur Federation, Huffington Post, Apr. 28, 2014.