The Vegan View

Fossil Collecting: Jewelry

I recently became a vegan for ethical and health reasons. My question is about fossil jewelry, like fossil corral and fossil ivory from wooly mammoths and prehistoric walruses. These animals died of natural causes, many years ago. Is it unethical to keep and wear such jewelry? I mean, some folks keep the family ashes on the mantle out of reverent remembrance for them.

VegFamily readers reply:

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Ellen:
I do not like questions like this simply because I feel that this contributes to the problems of how vegans are perceived. Veganism is a lifestyle, not a label, and you live it first for yourself. Vegans are not all alike and they live their veganism differently (activist vs. non-activist, raw vs. whole foods vs. vegan who eats mainly processed meat substitues). The only person who can really decide what is acceptable for your brand of veganism is yourself. If you feel that using something that remains of an animal, even if it is from millions of years ago and died of natural causes, is wrong or questionable, then don't. I would assume you do since you are asking for clearance. But if you are okay with it, why check in? It's not like there is a vegan police. I say live the best vegan life you can, because no one is 100% vegan. But stop getting caught up in the microscopic details because that is part of the reason that people think vegans are nitpicky and live an impossible lifestyle that is for a small, obsessive majority.

Erica:
When it comes to animal ethics, I don't consider using prehistoric fossil jewelry wrong. However, these jewels come from virgin natural places that carry their history with them and when we buy these products, we support the exploitation of these magical places that should be left in peace. You shouldn't feel sad about not using these! Just like Feng Shui refers to sea shells... I don't think carrying the skeleton of a dead creature will bring the best of energies! There are many beautiful rocks to use as jewelry, and each one has a particular energy that you can pick, just check out magic rock encyclopedia. Best wishes!

Sherry:
Grey area. I would say that's up to you. I wouldn't. I believe the dead should rest in peace.

Priscilla: I have to say that I find this question to be preposterous. Fossil animals are all around us. Your toothpaste? That has fossil diatoms in it. The gravel in your driveway? If you're in the southeastern US, chances are there are fossil mollusks in it. Ever use concrete to build anything? That's made of fossils too. If you're talking about an animal that died thousands to millions of years ago, and its shell or some other hard part has survived to this day, I don't see any problem with wearing it for jewelry. However, you would need to be very sure that your "fossil" coral is in fact "fossil" and not ripped from a living reef. Those harvest methods are quite destructive and detrimental to the health of coral reefs, which happen to be extremely threatened worldwide. So on second thought, I can see your concern in wearing the jewelry, but in my mind if an animal died of natural causes and has been dead and buried for thousands of years, there is no harm in using it. It would be better to consider the methods employed to harvest that fossil and their impact on the environment.

Rob:
Fossilized collectibles can be both beautiful and interesting. I don't suppose there's much need to shy away from them simply because the are fossilized remains of ancient organisms. I would personally not find it unethical to wear or display some such artifact, so long as it's acquisition is not otherwise causing some harm - any more than picking up a shell from a beach. Yet there are significant harvesting operations underway in many places - especially in impoverished areas and often in environmentally threatened places. I think you must consider the source of such artifacts - and whether there is damage being done in order to bring them to market. Is there environmental damage occurring as a result of this activity? Is there social struggle / military conflict / pirating / profiteering going on - that you would feel comfortable being a part of - by participating in that market ?

Chris:
I think that the decision to wear body parts of animals that died of natural causes is a very personal ethical choice. Some may say it denotes respect and reverence for the beauty of these animals. However, my take on it is slightly different. I see it as a form of specism: discrimination against another life based on its species. It's something to give a lot of thought - why would you want to wear the corpse remains of an animal as decoration? Is that not macabre and disrespectful of the dead? Would you wear human bones as jewelry? Then why an animal's? What makes any animal so much less than us that we can degrade its body in this manner, and not find it as grotesque and chilling as if it were human remains? It is also a manifestation of specism in a different form; not only is it the discrimination against an animal for not being human,it is discrimination based on the specific type of animal it is. Would you wear these same fossils/body parts if they belonged to a dog, cat, horse, or other companion animal? Would you wear them if they belonged to an animal you consider cute or intelligent - dolphins, harp seal pups, etc? Why is it that people find it necessary to decorate themselves with the corpses of animals? This really does not show any honor or respect for nature, but rather a disregard of the animal's intrinsic worth as another living being. If you are fascinated by the beauty of fossils, etc, it would be far better to wear jewelry which bears the design, rather than jewelry which is actually made from the animal. But say you wear a necklace with a fake shark's tooth or dinosaur claw - how is this different from deciding to wear jewelry representing the teeth or finger joints of a Native tribe whom one considers 'fierce'? Wouldn't this be considered racist, and disturbing? Animal parts are not trophies or spoils of a species war - I think they should be left in peace, a last measure of respect for the dead. Why would you want to loot their graves? I leave you with a quote, from Henry Beston's 'The Outermost House': "The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

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