What to do if you have a mink coat going spare
sir – If Kirsty Blunt (Letters, November 12) would like to save the lives of some mink, she would do well to put the mink coats she has inherited on the market in some cold eastern European country, where fur coats are sold to keep the wearers warm in the brutal winters.
In this way she would be sparing animals in those regions from becoming coats. I know a lady who incinerated many thousands of pounds’ worth of fur items she had inherited, not realising that selling them would have been an ecologically astute move – and at the same time made her richer.
Chris Elston
Cahul, Moldova
sir – I inherited a mink jacket and a Forties squirrel jacket from my mother.
I gave them to my local dramatic society, where they were eagerly accepted for use as period props. Helen Miller
Blackpool, Lancashire sir – An American friend of mine had the same problem as Kirsty Blunt. She had beautiful waterproof linings made and wears the coats inside out.
It doesn’t solve the ethical question but, as she says, the coats will keep her warm until her last days – at which point they will become her daughters’ problem. Lesley Thompson
Lavenham, Suffolk
sir – I should be delighted to have a mink coat to make into a liner or gilet, to wear under a coat in winter. John Seager Green
Winchester, Hampshire
sir – The Cats Protection charity uses fur coats for kittens and cats to snuggle up to.
However, when my sister and I offered a squirrel coat we had inherited from our mother, we were turned away. Cats and squirrels don’t get on.
Penny Colman
Melksham, Wiltshire