The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued. Historically it had a large impact on the exploration and colonization of Siberia, northern North America and the South Shetland and South Sandwich Islands. Today the importance of fur trade has diminished and is currently centered around fur farms and authorized wildlife hunting, but remains controversial due to the cruelty involved and conflicts with the tourism industry. Several animal rights organizations oppose the fur trade, while supporters often cite their methods as not being cruel, that the animal populations are abundant and their rights to practice a traditional lifestyle should be respected. The use of fur on some items today has been partly substituted by synthetic imitations.
Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur-pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Fur was a major Russian export as trade developed in the Early Middle Ages ( 500-1000 AD/CE ), first through the Baltic and Black Seas. The main trading destination was the German city of Leipzig.
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensive body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal pelts which have been processed into leather with the hair still attached. The words fur or furry are also used, more casually, to refer to hair-like growths or formations; particularly when the subject being referred to exhibits a dense coat of fine, soft "hairs".
Animal fur, if layered, rather than grown as a single coat, may consist of short ground hair, long guard hair, and, in some cases, medium awn hair. Mammals with reduced amounts of fur are often called "naked", as in The Naked Ape, naked mole rat, and naked dogs.
An animal with commercially valuable fur is known within the fur industry as a furbearer. The use of fur as clothing and/or decoration is considered controversial by some people: most animal rights advocates object to the trapping and killing of wildlife, and to the confinement and killing of animals on fur farms.
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another by getting something in exchange from the buyer. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Later one side of the barter were the metals, precious metals (poles, coins), bill, paper money. Modern traders instead generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money. As a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money (and later credit, paper money and non-physical money) greatly simplified and promoted trade. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade.
Trade exists for man due to specialization and division of labor, most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size allows for the benefits of mass production. As such, trade at market prices between locations benefits both locations.
Lisa Olivia Munn (born July 3, 1980) is an American comedic actress, model, television personality and author. She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. Since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn personally and professionally.
Lisa Olivia Munn was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is of Chinese descent on her mother's side (though her mother was raised in Vietnam) and of German and Irish descent on her father's. When Munn was two, her mother re-married, this time to a man in the United States Air Force. Although the family relocated many times, Munn was predominantly raised in Tokyo, Japan, where the military stationed her stepfather. During this time, she had appeared in a number of local theater productions, and later became a model within the Japanese fashion industry. Her parents divorced and she moved back to Oklahoma, where she attended Putnam City North High School for her junior and senior years and where she was a contemporary of Hinder bassist Mike Rodden, future Oklahoma state senator David Holt and author Aaron Goldfarb. She also attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in journalism and minoring in Japanese and dramatic arts.
Animal Equality (the original name, and in Spanish, Igualdad Animal).
Igualdad Animal is an international non-profit animal rights organization whose purpose is "to achieve equal consideration and respect for animals, and the abolition of animal slavery". This approach challenges the concept of speciesism, which considers animals as merely property and thereby of lesser value than humans. Currently the organization is present in Spain, UK, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia. Their activities are concentrated in the cities of Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona, Caracas and Bogotá.
The objective of Animal Equality is "to raise awareness of the suffering and deaths of nonhuman animals as victims of speciesism and work towards the abolition of animal use through the promotion of veganism."
Animal Equality does not support welfare reforms, or changes in the way animals are exploited, as the group believes that "reforms in animal treatment benefit exploiters by increasing efficiency and profit, and encourage the public to feel more comfortable about consuming animal products."