#like. mink and fox meat become pet food a lot o believe! and theres no reason why we cant adjust their diet and do some more-

[corvus-coraxs]

this is my ostrich skull. it's a young adult specimen, and I love it to bits! it is, however, a Chinese sourced skull. I didn't know - I had bought it second hand from an antique shop, and it didn't occur to me ostriches were the new thing!

we've been told for a while now never to buy Chinese skulls - they're often poorly cleaned (this boy here has got some grease, and foxes can be orange with it), and come from fur farms, which are rife with abuse and neglect.....right?

we all want to avoid supporting unethical trades in the Vulture Culture Community, and I'm absolutely all for that. avoid those fruit bats, as they're hunted en masse for their parts. avoid that certain Indonesian eBay seller, and all those African facebook sellers who found 50 perfect dead hornbills. however, on the basis on Chinese fur farms having high levels of animal abuse? the only examples I've seen can be traced back to animal r/ghts activism or radical v*gan (censored so this doesn't pop up in the searches) articles - which have either been exposed as faked, or are notorious for taking what they record out of context, for example, filming a cow bellowing "desperately for its baby," when in reality, she's just in heat.

china is, indeed, infamous for its poor welfare standards and regulations. but I've been thinking, and I've found it hard to believe just because the welfare standards are lower, every single ostrich farm and fox ranch out there are treating their animals horribly. a neglected, uncomfortable ostrich will not produce enough eggs, and it's more economic to meet its needs. a cramped, stressed fox will have poor quality fur.

one example on an article by natgeo shows a photo of a mink fur farm owned by a small business. it shows the enclosures appearing to be quite small, with even smaller, mobile cages containing a mink in each on top, and two staff members. those mobile cages are almost definitely to temporarily contain the animal, possibly during enclosure upkeep. and yes, the enclosures are small - but consider how poultry is raised. often in worse conditions, bred to crush themselves under their weight if not culled, beaks clipped so they can't kill eachother. this is acceptable by our welfare standards, and the same people (including myself!) who have been warning against the ethicality of Chinese specimens, have been happily devouring some KFC.

at this point, it appears arguements against these sources have turned from a worry for ethics, to borderline stereotyping and racism. I've caught some folk saying some nasty stuff following a conversation about Chinese specimens. when in reality, I haven't seen any refutable source to support the notion that, currently, a large enough portion of farming in China is abusive enough to warrant warnings of maltreatment to animals over byproducts on ebay.

this isn't to say go on eBay and buy 15 greasy fox skulls right now because it's actually okay! I haven't found any sources of the contrary, either, which isn't surprising - positive articles about any kind of farming are few and far between as fearmongering over the finnish furfarm and PET@ takes hold of western media, and because, well, farms SHOULDNT be praised with media attention for treating animals well, it's a bare minimum. I'm asking for a discussion - is it as bad as we make it out to be? are the poor practices held by a majority, or only a viral minority?

I would absolutely love any takes and sources on either side of this. I would love to believe things have been exaggerated, but I know i may just be feeling hopeful, too. please note I am not v*gan, never have been, never will, I'm a huge supporter of sustainable farming and hunting for any resource, I believe fur farming should not be banned, please do not dump animal r/ghts stuff on this post.