Just as the choice to wear fur garments is a personal one, people sometimes have strong feelings about whether to wear farm-raised or wild-caught furs.

Mink and foxes have been raised on farms since the turn of the century. Scandinavian countries produce the bulk of the world's farmed fur animals. Farms in several other countries raise fox and mink, and the U.S. is recognized for producing the finest quality mink in the world. Mink and fox have been called the world's best cared-for domestic animals, because any mistreatment would show up immediately on their pelts, devaluing them. Mink farmers have adopted codes of humane care that include regular visits by veterinarians.

Trapping furbearing animals is a wildlife conservation tool. In the U.S. and Canada, which produce the bulk of the international commercial fur trade's wild furs, the practice is exercised by government-licensed trappers and controlled by scientists. In Canada, indigenous humans living off the land still trap as part of their ancient heritage. Management of certain species will always be essential in a world where humans interact with wildlife habit. Shrinking habitat due to human expansion is the biggest threat to most wild animals today. In fact, while hunting and trapping might be considered to be a threat to wild animal species, hunters and trappers actually provide the money -- through licensing fees -- used by government agencies to analyze and maintain those populations.

Living in finite habitats, wildlife populations left unmanaged frequently overpopulate. The results: they suffer starvation or become diseased (Mother Nature manages populations by spreading rabies, mange and other not-so-pretty afflictions); they infringe on human needs (damaging infrastructures, flooding roads, wandering into urban areas, sometimes dangerously coming into contact with small children); and even destroy their very own habitats (in Louisiana, overpopulated nutria are eating away valuable wetland areas). Therefore, man must intervene. Even when fur has no commercial value, trappers are sent to work, in some cases at taxpayer expense.