I used to wrap myself in fur. I loved the way I looked in it. I loved the way it felt on my body. I loved the social message it gave to others. This love affair with fur began when I, as a young girl, inherited a sheared beaver coat from my grandmother. There is, however, always a day of reckoning.

My day of reckoning came with a horrific tale of a mink farm, not far from my home. 2,800 mink were liberated; scattered throughout the forest, but these liberators also bludgeoned 443 of them in their cages with baseball bats or stomped them to death with their heavy boots. Their dead bodies laid smashed to death all over the mink farm floor. These mink-killers went so far as to decapitate the two family dogs; one an old beagle. I knew that no animal loving group was responsible for this. This was an act of hate against animals and a personal vendetta, I believe, with the owners of the farm. The crime remains unsolved. This farm had been crippled and would not be contributing to the 1.8 billion dollar fur industry.

I have always loved animals, so this story of hate and cruelty took me to my computer, where I found the story. I read all about the family who owned the mink farm being ruined because of dead breeding lines; that many generations of mink were gone forever. This article forced me to start thinking about fur farms, and for the next six months, I researched everything I could get my hands on about mink farms, mink, and the fur industry. The more I read, the more disheartened and appalled I became.

I never thought much about how my beautiful furs, in which I looked and felt so terrific, came into being. (Did I think the animal died of old age?) My research took me to mink farms and fur trappers. It was here that my days of buying and wearing anything with fur attached to it ended. All my furs went into the garbage and were removed from my home forever. But this was not enough. I needed to do something: make a difference. What could I do? I was just one girl. I was no one famous. I did not come from a well-connected family. I wondered how one woman could bring about change. That is when I thought about the power of words. I decided to write a book, but not just any book spewing out facts and statistics —those were already around. I decided to do something very different from anything done before; and from there, Mink was born. I was lucky to have been published by Arctic Wolf in late 2008.

Mink is a heroic fantasy novel about a universe of European mink. I used them since they are now approaching the endangered species status. They live in the story live in their natural environment. They are anthropomorphized, possessing their own culture, language, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel recounts the mink odyssey as they encounter perils and dangers, but none so insidious as the wickedness, indifference, ignorance, and greed of a fur farmer, who has no regard whatsoever to the mink stuffed and locked behind cages. The story addresses the labors and timeless struggles between tyranny and freedom, reason and blind emotion, and the individual and corporate capitalism. The novel explores the themes of secular ostracism, survival, heroism, political and moral responsibility, and the making of a hero. They tell their own story. The sequel has just been finished.

Animals bring such joy to our lives. And we have a Biblical dominion over all of them, which to me means that we need to be responsible and care for all of the animals that God has put on this earth. My position is that more humane treatment is needed for all animals; this means empty cages, not bigger ones, and it means no more fur.

I reject physical violence, and my book, Mink, rejects physical violence. I can, however, understand why attacks on property can and do occur. If you compare the destruction of animal laboratories/fur farms to resistance fighters blowing up gas chambers in Nazi Germany, then it is easier to accept. I can understand why this is done. Personally, I could not do it, but I understand it, especially when you see the inhuman things they are doing to animals in the name of research and fashion.

Read. Look at the pictures and videos of what is found in laboratories—look at what fur farmers are doing behind closed doors. Fur farmers want the public to believe that their mink are domesticated…sorry pal, no such thing as a domesticated mink. It takes 1,000 years of evolution to domesticate an animal and fur farming began just after the Civil War. Do the math. Those who destroy labs and fur farms argue that the removal of animals from a laboratory or the farm it is supplying fur for, simply means they will be quickly replaced, but if the laboratory itself is destroyed -if the fur farm is trashed -it not only slows down the restocking process, but increases costs, possibly to the point of making animal research and/or skinning animals prohibitively expensive. I believe that all humans have a responsibility that encompasses all aspects of an animal’s well-being, beginning with the enforcement of stricter animal welfare laws and those breaking these laws should see harsher consequences.

For more information about the book, go to www.zetothemink.com.