There’s an animal-friendly way to get rid of the fur coat your grandmother gave you: donate it to Coats for Cubs.
Coats for Cubs is an annual program started by the Humane Society of the United States in 1995. In 2006, it extended its partnership to the 36 Buffalo Exchange stores around the country.
According to the Coats for Cubs Web site, the fur is cut into pieces to act as a surrogate mother to help calm orphaned and abandoned animals.
Senior Eliana Enriquez said the program is a great solution for conscientious consumers who see that fur in fashion is cruel.
“I definitely don’t contribute to fur wearing,” she said. “So I think you can take a bad thing and make something positive out of it, and that’s pretty awesome.”
Freshman Amanda Johnson said she doesn’t wear fur because humans don’t need it as much as animals do.
“Fur is a luxury I don’t think I’ll ever get into,” she said. “Animals were born with that fur, and now they need that fur more than I need that fur. I think it’s a good thing to give it back to those who were born with it.”
Jessica Leising, an employee at the Buffalo Exchange in Albuquerque, said people should tell the store’s staff when they come in that they want to donate their fur clothing to Coats for Cubs.
Donations can also be mailed directly to the Humane Society in Washington, D.C.
“We normally get a lot of coats that are in bad condition that aren’t really re-sellable for us,” Leising said. “We’ll donate them, and then little animals get to play with them. People are really excited to have something to do with their fur coats.”
Sophomore Ryan Sciarrotta said donating fur coats is a better alternative than selling them back into the market.
“I think that’s a great program,” he said. “Instead of giving it to Savers or something it goes back to the animals.”
Amanda Balamenti, an administrative assistant at Buffalo Exchange, said the program began Nov. 15 and is scheduled to end on Earth Day, April 22.
“They’ve had a lot of luck with it and it’s really grown a lot,” Balamenti said. “We have had about 3,800 (coats) since 2006, so we’ve had a pretty good result so far.”
Balamenti said Denver collected the most coats last year with 73 donations.
*Coats for Cubs
Donate at
Buffalo Exchange
3005 Central Ave. N.E.
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The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
Attn: Coats for Cubs*
