Q: These days it seems fur is everywhere—fur-lined boots, fur-lined coats, fur-lined gloves. I've even seen fur-lined hoodies on the runway at fashion shows. Five years ago, it felt like you couldn't wear fur without being jumped on by animal-rights activists. What the hell happened? And what's your take on the whole fur question?

A: I've always said that if chickens didn't taste good, they would be extinct. Our culture is based on the biblical idea of dominion over nature. Now that we haven’t done such a great custodial job, people are rethinking this. Personally, I'd like to give the Great Plains back to the buffalo and support increased range for man-eating species. I think the ancient pagans had a far better handle on flora-and-fauna management than we do, and I think we should have biodynamic polytheists running the FDA. Yet I suspect meat, leather, and fur are not going out of style anytime soon. What I'm vocally against is inhumane trapping and cruel farm conditions. Unlike the food industry, where free-range and cruelty-free are now taken seriously, the fur industry is in the Stone Age. Someday someone will come out with humanely ranched fur—or at least what a pork-eater like me considers humane—and then I'll wear fur,

December 2007

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