I don't know about you, but the idea of having a dead animal draped around my shoulders to keep warm, or worse, to make a 'fashion statement', makes me want to recoil in disgust, or more to the point: puke!

On a recent shopping trip I happened to spot a number of rabbit fur vests in shop windows--at least I think they were rabbit fur . But with dog and cat fur often deliberately mislabelled and imported as 'rabbit', you can never be sure.

What is up with this resurgence of fur?! At the recent Melbourne Spring Fashion Week there were a disturbing number of attendees in the crowd wearing this season's "on-trend" of brightly coloured fur.

Even Aussie expat, supermodel Jess Hart has been seen walking around the streets of New York in a fur coat that I'm sure looked much better on the animal it was taken from.

And to top it all off, the latest episode of Australia's Next Top Model again featured fur to the disgust of viewers and even the show's own judges. ANTM copped it last year for the same tasteless faux pas so they have no excuse for not using faux fur this time around.

We know there is nothing fashionable about the cruel slaughter of animals for fur. Fur farms, which often use killing methods such as drowning, anal electrocution and skinning alive are kept in business through the demand for fur coats, gloves, hats, fur trimming at the cost of thousands of animals' lives.

What do you think -- How can we communicate to these "fashionistas" that animals need their fur on their own backs, not ours? With so many cosy cruelty-free outfits at our fingertips, haven't we evolved past killing animals for coats?!

(Isn't this ad by Animal Friends Croatia great! We found it via Osocio.org)

ps. Have you made the Pledge to Wear Your Own Skin yet?

Have you ever wondered what your dog or your cat would say if they could talk back to you? I'm certain my dog, Kia would tell me she doesn't care if she has her own chair, she'd rather sit in mine! I also have no doubt that as I type this, she is trying to say "Hurry up, let's go outside for a tug of war!"

And what would animals say to each other? I really hope this video is close to the truth ;)

A biologist from the Bahamas might be on her way to discovering what animals really have to say. Denise Herzing has been working with dolphins for years and has devised an amazing way for humans and dolphins to communicate. Using symbols, and a keyboard synthesizer that creates sounds similar to those naturally produced by dolphins, they can actually ask each other for particular objects, like a ball or a scarf. How incredible! And she thinks it's only a matter of time before more complex interactions get started.

So just what will dolphins tell us?

And what about less fortunate animals? What would foxes and rabbits raised for their fur say? Or chimps and rats in labs? Or pigs and chickens in factory farms?

(Alright Kia, I'm nearly finished!) But I'd love to know, what do you think animals would say to us?

'Warren' is the star of a brand new 3D animated clip made by those awesome guys at Choose Cruelty Free to raise awareness about the hidden horrors of animal testing! This amazing little film has already made its online debut on YouTube and hopefully will make it to TV later in the year.

CCF should be commended for this powerful animation that will hopefully challenge average Australians to buy household and cosmetic items that don't contain the added cruelty.

Every year millions of animals are poisoned, burnt and killed in the name of 'science'… a poor science that is unreliable, inaccurate and as dangerous for us as it is for the animals!

If this gets you as fired up as it does me, then let's take some action! Firstly, make sure you make the "Say no animal testing" pledge and then start spreading the word about this video! Stick it on your MySpace and Facebook and help give Warren a voice!

Want to do and learn even more? Grab your student info kit from CCF today.