Possum Down Gloves — Ethical Alternative?

A light fleece liner?

A fleece liner is certainly an obvious alternative. However, what makes possum down so attractive is its ability to keep your hands warm even should it get wet. Fleece would collapse under such strain, I'm afraid. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Most animals whose down or undercoat fur that is used in garments are not harmed in the process. Possum down i believe is an exception since they typically utilize deceased animals. However, goose down is not taken from slain animals typically and, it is a renewable resource. A undercoat 'down' from a dog like a siberian husky for example would be a good alternative and i could mail you more than you would ever want! haha, my dog sheds like crazy when blowing her coat and I have made a top quilt , hat, and mittens out of her undercoat. And no, it doesn't smell like wet dog if it gets wet.

Unfortunately, goose and duck down is taken as a byproduct of the meat industry–there's no way to humanely pluck a live bird. One exception is the rare eider down, which is supposedly collected by stealing the down from the birds' nests.

Here ya go, they make a mitten too,

http://www.smartwool.com/mens/cozy-glove-6.html:

BTW, fleece will keep your hands warm when wet, you just need to occasionally wring the water from them, if they continue to become wet.

Merino wool works well, but if you can locate alpaca, alpaca/wool blend, or angora/wool blend gloves, those will be lighter and warmer, more comparable to the possum down, especially the alpaca/wool or angora/wool. The alpaca gloves actually can be fairly easy to find, if you have anyone in the area that imports sweaters, gloves, hats from Peru and sells them in your local farmer's market, or if you live near a college, they often cater to the students and may have a booth periodically on campus. Full alpaca will tend to sag and stretch a bit when wet, so if possible find a blend with wool, which has loft and bounce and retains its shape better. Angora/wool will be even warmer and lighter, but some people are allergic to the rabbit fuzz (even more so than wool), and will be harder to locate. Find a local yarn store, and see if a local knitter will agree to work for you—then you can have custom-designed gloves just for you! Or, learn to knit yourself, but I recommend trying a hat or scarf before leaping into gloves.

All these animals are shorn annually (or, in the case of the rabbit, plucked), and are cherished resources, not killed for their hair.

Possumdown products use a blend of possum fur and merino wool, not goose down. The bushtail possums were introduced to New Zealand by settlers with the typical ecological results– no natural predators and they carry bovine tuberculosis too. But they are harmed, so check that off the list.

I have some SealSkinz gloves that are very warm and waterproof. Windstopper fleece gloves work for me too. If I were looking for merino wool, I would start with Smartwool.

Possum down is from the common brushtail possum in New Zealand. The brushtail possum was introduced into New Zealand and is not a native animal there. Since there are no natural predators in New Zealand, the brushtail possum population exploded to the extent where it now a major agricultural and conservation pest, and has had disastrous effects to the native wildlife and trees in New Zealand. The brushtail possum is also a carrier of bovine tuberculosis. There's been an active program in New Zealand to eradicate the invasive brushtail possum. As of 2009, the population of brushtail possums has been reduced to 30 million, from its peak of 70 million in the 1980s.

So, if it makes you feel any better, the possums are not being killed for their fur. The possum down is just a byproduct of an eradication program in New Zealand of an introduced species of possum.

The BPL article on gear for cold and wet conditions recommended a glove made from Wind Pro fleece as the best option. It resists wind, is reasonably warm when wet, and dries pretty quickly. REI has them as "All Season Gloves."

I was not happy with Windstopper fleece gloves, which have a windproof barrier between two thin fleece layers. I dropped one in a puddle and after that it took several days to dry completely.

But my preference is for natural materials, so I was looking at bison gloves. The hair is just combed off them, and supposedly is extremely warm.

"Unfortunately, goose and duck down is taken as a byproduct of the meat industry–there's no way to humanely pluck a live bird. One exception is the rare eider down, which is supposedly collected by stealing the down from the birds' nests."

Yes, the feathers and down is indeed recovered from the skins. This is a byproduct of the meat industry and a part of peoples diet, one way or the other.

"…there's no way to humanely pluck a live bird." This just isn't true. In spring, as the weather warms up and they have goslings to tend, they molt or shed older feathers…including down feathers. They will often pull out clumps as they groom during this time. It is possible to harmlessly take a handfull of down from each underwing. They barely notice, unless you grab too deeply and take the immature feathers. But, you are generally correct on a commercial scale. The pond in front of our house has been covered with down, breast and unneeded flight feathers in spring. BTW, the birds can still fly. They just don't leave the little ones. Once a pair has decided to make a nest, they do not allow another goose on the pond untill hatching.

"Stealing" is not quite the same as simply collecting the abandoned nests. The Eider makes a nest by pulling down plumes from their bodies. Soon after the eggs hatch, the little ones leave, as do the parents. They abandon the nest, since they will make a new one next year; they are not reused. The adandoned nests are collected as Eider down. Note that the Eider duck only pulls mature down plumes for this, generally.

"But my preference is for natural materials, so I was looking at bison gloves. The hair is just combed off them, and supposedly is extremely warm."

Now there is a job I didn't know existed, Buffalo comber. Seems like it would be easier
to just pluck the abandoned Bison nests.

Very warm Pile and Pertex mitts. No Buffalo were harmed in their making.
Buffalo mitts

> there's no way to humanely pluck a live bird.
Totally and completely wrong.
Eastern Europe (especially Poland) was once home to vast numbers of duck and goose farms whose product was down. They had lots of ponds for the birds. The birds were NOT killed: they were looked after very carefully. During the spring moult the down was collected off them, by hand. The older the bird the better the down. This is entirely ethical, even 'vegetarian'.

Granted, a lot of Chinese down used to come from the meat industry – if they are going to farm birds for meat why waste the down? Waste seems silly to me.

But today the Chinese are starting to run similar down farms (in the colder regions I believe), where the birds are not killed. Just like in Poland many decades ago.

Cheers

Heck, I thought it was an ethical improvement to just use the possum's down, instead of the possum, to cover my hands. I must admit though that not having the entire possum on my hand improved dexterity.

Then again, this is how I used to make a bivy sack (see the 1:24 mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXmp1hLK0tY&feature=related

I kid, I kid! ;)

If you really want to get a warm garment, get something woven out of Qivit. I know that is an odd word. That is the fur collected from a musk ox. You know the animals in the polar regions that stand around in a blizzard at forty below zero? The native people collect the fur and spin it into a wool-like yarn. Expensive, but good.

Something related is the Tibetan yak. The Sherpa people collect yak hair and spin that into a wool-like yarn. It is a bit on the coarse side, but otherwise it makes a good hat.

Animals aren't bothered by any of this, so it classifies as naturally sustainable.

–B.G.–

According to Wikipedia, there are people who consider the live plucking of down as not humane, thus my earlier comment of there's no way to humanely pluck down from a live bird:

A percentage of the world's supply of down feathers has been plucked from live birds,[26] a practice which is condemned as cruel by animal welfare groups.[27] The precise percentage of down harvested in this manner is uncertain; while some references report that it is only a small fraction of the total (less than 1% in 2011),[26] a 2009 Swedish documentary reported that it might be as much as 50–80% of the total supply. Although live-plucking is illegal in the United States and Europe, it is known to occur in two European countries (Poland and Hungary) and in China.[27] Public sentiment against the practice has, in some countries, been strong enough that large retailers such as IKEA (a home furnishing chain) and Patagonia (a clothing manufacturer) have been forced to alter product lines to eliminate the use (or possible use) of live-plucked down.[28][29]

humane??? the animals might not think so:

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DeiTTNyvvxh4

When the priority is on maximum "harvest", live plucking is
NOT humane!! Just search for "Lebendrupf" in youtube as its mostly
German animal welfare groups who point at this terrible practice in
Hungary and Poland.

Hmmm, Germans trying to monkey around with the economics and politics of Poland and Hungary, why does that sound familiar?

;)

In all fairness though the ethical debate on animal cruelty is narrow minded. Strict veganism virtually requires the use of synthetics in an effort to protect domesticated animals (domesticated basically meaning bred to be of utilitarian value for humans).

However synthetics are nearly all petroleum based and if you look at the entire life cycle of your cheap and simple plastic based textiles, you'd be appalled at the ecological impact your "vegan" lifestyle has. From the oil spills to the chemical processing to the coloring to the sweatshop, your ethically myopic decision is injuring countless animals and humans.

No matter what you decide to do, some poor cute lil bunny rabbit will probably have to die to keep your fingers warm. So the choice shouldn't be a complete abstinence from having a negative impact (every life negatively impacts other life) but instead how to minimize the inevitable impact. Using sustainable sources for clothing, whether bluesign certified, recycled polyesters or *gasp* products from well-cared for animals, it is more important to the focus holistic goal MINIMIZING harm to other creatures rather than eliminating it.

You WILL do harm. There is no way around that. Zero impact is an illusion in our society and doesn't exist in the natural world. Even autotrophs degrade the inorgnic soil and contribute to erosion. What matters is the "rate" of harm you do. If you harm an animal population for personal gain, can that population recover in time for you to harm it again? In the process of harming, can you minimize the amount of unnecessary discomfort so that the animals live a fulfilling life aside from your moments harm? If so, and it often is possible albeit expensive, then that should be a goal worth pursuing…ethically speaking.

…but i think humans are supposed to consume meat. Now animal cruelty is a different issue…i mean we are hunter/gatherer's for a reason. To each his own!

What about some seal mittens? I mean in Alaska the natives eat the seals, EVERY POSSIBLE PART OF IT, and use the hides for everything, including very warm clothing. I dont believe them to be mistreating them, or having hugely overpopulated farms or many of the other reasons animals are harvested(beef/poultry etc.) Plus you would be helping to boost the economy in a region that doesnt see very much lower 48 cash…of course i would have no idea of how to get a hold of a pair…

Skin a road kill deer.
Just kidding.
But seriously, fleece is your best option. Anything that is not cotton and not fluffy will not completely lose it's insulating properties when wet.
If it makes you feel any better, buy some military surplus wool gloves. They are sitting in a warehouse somewhere and you wouldn't be supporting an industry.

Does this mean I'll have to stop using moleskin on my blisters?

If we must, then let's suffer so the critters don't.

We should probably all adopt naugas today:

So they don't get turned into Naugahyde.

These are evidently great. I don't have a pair yet, but am considering them. They are boiled wool, which makes them very dense and so tightly felted that they are nearly waterproof. As a benefit, they are evidently indestructible enough that mountaineers use them even when they are swinging ice tools all day.

http://www.bradleyalpinist.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=467&zenid=8cg74d8pjla6alnu3q120u8aq7

Just plain old wool. Shaved sheep, not dead sheep. :)

Another source for Dachstein Mitts is http://www.sweatersintl.com. Fast shipping. Reasonable price. Good quality product that is fully knit (without the finger seam found in Ortovox wool mitts).

The Ortovox version of Dachstein boiled wool mitts can also be found at the Mountaineer in Keene Valley, NY:
http://mountaineer.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MTR&Product_Code=ArcticMitts&Category_Code=64

They are often too warm for me unless it's below about 10F. I'm not sure if the sweaters international version is identical to the Ortovox or not, but it looks good.