I Have Random Question

What are some actual problems in the animal product industry?

I'm mostly familiar with fur farming so that's what I'll comment on.

A big concern of mine is that because ARA campaigns against people using or farming fur there's been a decline in the public's trust of fur products in countries that traditionally had good animal welfare standards. This has caused an uptick in fur being farmed in places where the animal welfare laws aren't as regulated, so you're seeing many more unethical farms being able to sell furs cheaply to markets that buy fur for textile. The quality of the fur doesn't matter as much as in the clothing market, so the animals are raised to be as big as possible, exceeding thier healthy sizes and weights to produce as much fur on one animal as possible.

Simultaneously, these unethical farms and businesses are aware of the bad press that ARA groups have spread about the industry, and will sell off other byproducts that aren't as heavily scrutinized or regulated as fur. Many mislabeled blue fox skulls are being sold worldwide (often illegally) by oddities dealers that come from these farms as well as oils and fertilizers and other byproducts of fur farming. It's easy to tell if an animal was unhealthy due to the condition of the pelt, but when the fur is processes as wool or part of the animal people may not recognize came from a fur farm is distributed, it still funds these poorly regulated places.

Meanwhile, the farmers and workers who are being harassed are ones who are generally compliant with WelFur standards, meaning that their farms are up to the current welfare codes in place. It's causing many good farms to go out of business or in some cases close down due to entire states or countries banning fur farming or the use of fur products.

So now good farms are being held accountable for bad practices done at other farms, and it's becoming more and more difficult to find places that do hold up to ethical animal husbandry standards. It's also promoting the use of plastics to make faux fur products which are far worse for the environment then just using fur. And due to the scrutiny many farmers face, it's becoming less worth it for them to sell thier animals as pelts and instead sell them to the exotic pet trade (i.e. people like saveafox who buys foxes directly from an unethical fur farm with bad breeding practices).

It's bad because it feels like there's very little room for changes and improvements to the fur industry because of the chokehold ARA groups have on the public's understanding of fur farming. For example, I'd like to see more ethical breeding practices done based on studying certain color generics and how they effect the health of certain species (we know some color mutations also cause genetic issues with certain species and I would like to have more information as to why that happens and how it can be avoided). However, it's difficult to discuss topics like that and push for change within the industry because most fur farms have to be extremely cautious with who they discuss thier practices to. ARAs will often lie to them to infiltrate thier farms to "expose" them by fabricating lies or stealing and releasing thier animals.

me

the bird grabber

the biggest thing i’m going to struggle with this challenge is the social media break on weekdays… any tips on that?

Well for starters, I just reblogged this post for you with practical tips.

Remember that social media is a very new thing and literally everyone who came before you (and depending on your age, even a part of your life) had life without social media. People entertained themselves, they learned, they traveled, they dressed themselves and discovered their style, they found cool foods they wanted to make, they kept up with current events, they found out about shows and movies they wanted to see, all without social media. And you can too. You are not required to be glued to your phone all day. You are absolutely allowed to log off. There’s no consequences for doing so. Very very very very very few things we find online are truly worth seeing and I can bet you a million dollars right now that you don’t remember even a fraction of the stuff you looked at today. It’s just not important! You’re missing out on nothing.

This is an opportunity for you to experience a full and satisfying life in the real world. So many books to read, pictures to draw, stories to write, clothes to make, workouts to do, daydreams to have, in-person visits to make, albums to listen to, recipes to try, at-home spa days to have, miniature sets to build, candles to make, DIYs to try, journaling to do, repairs to complete, bedrooms to redecorate, local places to visit, and time with family to share. Can all of this be done while also spending time on social media? Yes of course. But many times, we don’t do it because that time gets stolen from us with nothing to show for it.

Just bc these accounts exist doesn’t mean you have to use them. They’re not going anywhere. A few months off will do you so much good.

I want to write my thoughts down for this budgie

I remember seeing it on deviantart, I was still new to collecting. I was amazed by it, wondering how someone could own a study skin of such a delicate bird?

It was just one of many, but I saw it in the timeframe when this hobby was still new to me, wondering what those big collectors do. Wishing I could've discovered this whole thing sooner.

I still remember that person selling stuff and I thought, man I wish I could buy smth. Well I was still 14/15. There ain't no way I could. I just stayed with trading with other feather collectors once I had a grasp of how this works.

There is this strange passion I have for the things I find interesting, I could talk for hours about this stuff. I usually stay completely honest whenever I can, atleast that's how I usually am at times. I talk alot is what i want to say

A few years passed and deviantart pretty much got abandoned by any collector, I moved to a discord server with my friends and we just stayed on there ever since. I still tried to find new people on Instagram but over time I slowly lost interest in doing so. I miss the simpler times and sadly can't associate myself with the new folk, I got stuck in the past.

Now I am slowly but surely trying to gather all the memories that I had from that period. And one of them being is by.. buying portions of collections wherever I can. It doesn't happen alot of times. But when it's someone who used to be on deviantart, selling smth I try to get smth.

Which also meant that the person who owned the study skin of the budgie- aporoached me on Instagram 3 years ago? or 4? And asked me if I was interested in buying some things. I said yes absolutely.

In summary I got a few items I found interesting. Including a Javan banded pitta that was dear to me because it very much reminded me of the past times. That pitta switched so many hands. It was imported from Indonesia probably over a decade ago. Someone on twitter owned it, then they sold it to someone on deviantart, that person sadly had to dissolve their collection duo to their parents and sold it to another deviantart collector (the one who also owned the budgie skin) and one day- they offered it to me.

Now I am looking at this budgie, thinking how beautiful it is and how weird it feels when I saw it for the first time. It's now in my hands and still gorgeous as ever. I really wonder how it's life was, I might never know.

And I have alot of budgie feathers in my collection. And yet, I still think this is the crown of my collection. Well one of them.

Hopefully one day I cab donate my collection to a museum, I just have to write down all my thoughts over the years while I collect so that I don't forget it. A little booklet I'll donate with it. I'm not sure how the world will be in terms of collectors in let's say - 60 years.

But I'll never forget the moment when I first started out and discovered the community on deviantart, as a small anxious kid I was. She had no idea.

I found it very important that I got the budgie in the end, because I can't imagine that anyone else would have the same thoughts and feelings towards this particular study skin. They wouldn't remember the history.

If there is one thing I learned as a collector.

Make sure to write down all the data you have of your specimens the moment you receive it. Incase you are looking for to be more scientific.

Don't be like me and many other collectors who don't do that frequently and stand there with a massive collection that needs to their data written down.

I remember stuff from alot of these specimens but the thing is people that have these feathers afterwards let's say another collector or a museum will need to know where the specimen was obtained.

But fair I started when I was 15, I was rather more goofy than writing down stuff for my collection. Now I'm just like oh god this is gonna take months if not years.

Haven't posted in 17382891 years

I got job now, pog

heyy could you post a tutorial about bird taxidermy? (or like links to websites that detail it?)

i got 2 pheasant chicks from a friend and i wanna try to preserve them 🥺

Heya anon! Sorry if I couldn't answer you earlier, I am quite busy nowadays. I have my finals soon so I sadly don't have time to explain things BUT

I have this playlist a friend of mine put together, it includes a bunch of videos of how to make study skins etc.

YouTube

For museum work

Hope this helps!

The three kinds of bird species name

1. God’s Specialist Little Boy

2. Hot Breasted Milf

3. Grey Bird With Brown Head

4. Walter’s Fingernail

I love scrolling through tumblr

Been a hot bit and seeing everything through a different lense now

Been collecting feathers and co for 8 years and saw alot of changes, hopefully soon I'll have a job and take care of my collection without too many issues

To say that this hobby was a wild ride is an understatement, tho I learned alot and hopefully I can apply that knowledge for the future

Edit: I don't think I'll post alot from my collection on here since I just do it in my private friend group. Atleast I don't wanna sound like I am showing off or anything, going through some old posts on here I can see how much crazy stuff I missed out on. My ethics probably don't match with others people's views. So I will just vibe

My Blogs

Greetings, for everyones info these blogs bellow are my pimary accounts on tumblr.

This one mainly stays empty, for various things (well but I talk like a river so this is always subject to change huehuehue)

Bronko-plz-no: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/bronko-plz-no

Zeondraws: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/zeondraws