#IsThatFurReal Campaign Launched to Check if That Faux is Really Fur

Posted by Carly Day | February 9, 2019

Source – https://ladyfreethinker.org/isthatfurreal-campaign-launched-check-faux-really-fur/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email

Although fur is rapidly falling out of favor in the world of fashion, the fight against this inhumane industry is far from over. Compassionate shoppers and fashionistas are turning to fake fur, but may unwittingly be purchasing or wearing the real thing.

Animal Defenders International’s (ADI) new campaign #IsThatFurReal helps people differentiate between real and fake fur in an effort to stamp out cruelty. The initiative will run throughout New York Fashion Week (7-15 February) and London Fashion Week (15-19 Feb).

“Unaware that real fur is often mislabeled or not labeled at all, and cheap, shoppers may unknowingly be supporting animal suffering,” says ADI President Jan Creamer. “Animal Defenders International is here to help the public avoid animal fur and help stop this cruel trade.”

Anyone with an allegedly fake fur item is encouraged to share photos or videos of it on social media with the hashtag #IsThatFurReal, or email ADI at info@ad-international.org.

Experienced fur-spotters will let people know if the fur is real, and provide advice on how to spot the difference in the future.

In spite of a growing movement against the fur industry, more than 110 million animals every year are still killed on fur farms, and a further 16 million trapped and slaughtered directly from the wild.

Fur farms are notoriously hellish places, where animals are stuffed into tiny, dirty cages and deprived of the ability to fulfill any natural behaviors. These animals suffer extreme physical and psychological suffering.

In recognition of this cruelty, dozens of high-end designers have dropped fur from their labels, including Burberry, Gucci, DKNY and many more.

If you come across some fur clothing or other items and want to check if they are cruelty-free, ADI offer some tips:

1) Real individual furs taper to a fine point, whereas fake fur features blunt ends.

2) Fake fur is attached to a mesh or fabric base; real fur is attached to skin.

3) If you own the item, pluck a few strands of fur and burn them. Fake fur will smell like plastic, whereas real fur will smell like burnt hair.

Fur Farms Are Now BANNED In Serbia!

Posted by Carly Day | January 5, 2019

Image: Pixabay

Above – Chinchilla -the only animal farmed for fur in Serbia.

The new ban now saves about 12,000 / 13,000 animals each year.

After ten years of lobbying, Serbia’s long-awaited ban on fur farms finally went into effect on January 1st, 2019, and will save the lives of an estimated 12,000 chinchillas every year.

When it passed, the 2009 Animal Welfare Act included a decade-long transitional period, allowing fur farmers time to phase out their business and find a more sustainable income. But the wait is now finally over for these suffering animals.

Anti-fur organizations such as the Fur Free Alliance have been hard at work during that period, as pro-fur advocates fought to get the ban reversed.

In 2018, with the deadline drawing closer, fur trade groups stepped up their efforts, pressuring the Serbian government to extend the transition period or abandon the ban completely.

Thanks to the relentless work of the Fur Free Alliance and Serbian organization Freedom for Animals, the law stayed in place.

“For 15 years now, Freedom for Animals has advocated for a fur-free Serbia by advancing and supporting legislation to abolish this brutal exploitation of animals,” said Snezana Milovanovic, director of Freedom for Animals. “With the enforcement of the 2009 Animal Welfare Act, that makes it illegal to keep, reproduce, import, export and kill animals only for the production of fur, a great victory is finally achieved. Not only is this ban important for animals kept for fur production in Serbia, but also for the whole South East European region, and it signifies a major step forward for animal rights worldwide.”

The only species farmed for their fur in Serbia, chinchillas are endangered and protected in their natural habitats within South America. These adorable rodents are highly social, often living in colonies of up to 100 individuals. They are monogamous, mobile, shy and nocturnal.

These natural behaviors lie in stark contrast to their tortured lives in fur farms. Crammed into tiny cages barely big enough to move around in, they are forced to be active in the daytime.

Research has shown that chinchillas are prone to serious health and behavioral issues when kept in these horrific conditions. From stereotypic behaviors to self-mutilation, the intense stress of their enforced imprisonment is clear.

Serbia’s ban now puts them on a par with around a dozen other countries that have put an end to fur farming, including Norway, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

https://focusingonwildlife.com/news/poll-should-there-be-a-worldwide-ban-on-fur-farming-2/

We don’t typically get to follow the lives of individual animals who are killed for their coats. Now, a short film is offering us a harrowing glimpse into the short and tragic lives of three fox siblings who were born, raised and killed on a fur farm.  

The film, Fur: A Lifetime, which was just released by Animal Defenders International (ADI), was taken by hidden cameras placed on a fur farm in Poland – the fourth largest fox fur producer in the world. It spans the short lives and deaths of three arctic fox cubs, who ADI named Borys, Eryk and Aleska.

First the tiny cubs are nurtured by their mother, as best she can given the circumstances, before she is taken away from them. As they get older, their personalities come out and they attempt to play in their tiny wire cage. Soon their coats change color, and before they’re even seven months old, terrified Borys and Eryk are dragged out of their cage by a farmer, strung up by a leg and electrocuted to death.

Aleska watches as her brothers are torn away from her and killed. She is only spared because she will be used to produce more cubs, who will be torn from her to be killed for their fur as the cycle repeats.

“Over 100 million animals die for their fur every year. Our film shows the lives of these intelligent, feeling individuals and the cruelty they suffer when treated like a product. Just because they are not like us. Playfulfox cubs Borys and Eryk grow up in a small cage and die a terrifying and painful death for vanity and trinkets. This is the real cost of fur – when you buy fur, you buy cruelty, not beauty or luxury,” said ADI’s President, Jan Creamer.

The lives of these three cubs resemble nothing of their wild counterparts. They never knew the safety of a den, or the caring parents they would have had in the wild, who would have protected them and taught them the valuable skills they would need as they explored the world before setting out on their own.

Instead, they only experienced extreme confinement on the equivalent of a factory farm, and denied everything that would have enabled them to thrive. As a result, they and others like them pay a physical and psychological toll. On this single farm, ADI found foxes with bent feet and overgrown claws from living on wire floors, self-mutilation, aggression, injuries and illnesses that were left untreated, and filthy living conditions, while other investigations have found similar issues elsewhere.

According to ADI, over 15 million foxes are killed every year, usually to make trinkets, trims and accessories, but it can take up to 35 individuals to make a single coat. Sadly, foxes aren’t the only victims of this brutal industry. It’s estimated that over 110 million animals are killed on fur farms, every year, while more than 16 million are trapped in the wild, including mink, raccoon dogs, rabbits, chinchillas, coyotes, seals, otters, cats and dogs.

While the fur industry and its apologists continue to claim fur products are sustainable, eco-friendly and humane, those arguments couldn’t be further from the truth, and what few regulations and certification schemes there are do little to nothing to stop widespread suffering. While there have been major victories with nations banning fur farming, and imports, those that are still making fur are exporting products around the world.

While there are now plenty of faux options around, they still send the message that fur is trendy and open the door to other problems with mislabeling, which continues to be found to lead otherwise caring consumers to unwittingly support this industry by buying the real thing.

ADI added that the best ways to stop this cruel industry include pushing for legislation that bans fur farming, trapping and imports, urging designers and retailers to stop using and selling fur, and for us to stop buying it.

“Be comfortable in your own skin, and not that of a poor defenceless animal caged and killed to provide it. Say no to fur and yes to helping these fashion victims. Please help ADI stop this brutal trade,” said actress Joanna Lumley, who is supporting ADI’s campaign to end the fur trade, along with actor Brian Blessed.

For more on how to help, check out Animal Defenders International.

http://www.ad-international.org/adi_home/ 

This article was first published by Care2.com on 18 Sep 2017.

Following on from other wonderful news which you can read on our site – https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/01/01/good-news-for-the-start-in-2019/ – we have more great news as a result of many of us working hard for the last year or more.  

It is …………………………

We at WAV / SAV have worked hard over the last year with ‘Respect for Animals’ and the ‘Fur Free Alliance’; as well as Serbian activists; to provide them with lots of information relating to fur farming in Serbia.  Finally, today; 1/1/2019, we can say that all the effort has been worth it; and that as of today, 1/1/2019:

https://www.furfreealliance.com/serbia-starts-2019-off-right-by-outlawing-fur-farms/

Serbia starts 2019 off right by outlawing fur farms

• January 01,2019
• By BrigitOele

SERBIA, 1 JANUARY 2019 – Animal advocates around the globe rejoice as Serbia starts off the new year by effectively banning fur farms after a 10-year phase-out. The enforcement of the ban is the successful result of a decade-long decisive and persistent struggle by citizens, experts and animal rights activist during which fur industry lobby groups consistently put pressure to reverse the ban.

The adoption of the 2009 Animal Welfare Act, that outlawed fur farming in Serbia including a 10-year transitional period, was hailed by animal protection organisations worldwide. However, ever since the ban has been continuously threatened by fur trade interest groups. Desperately seeking to reverse the upcoming fur farming ban, fur farmers upped their lobbying of the Serbian government in 2018, resulting in a debate on the cancelation of the ban in a public session last June.

Above – Chinchilla – farmed in Serbia for their fur up until 1/1/2019.

Animal advocate groups worldwide have persistently urged the Serbian government to stay committed to the 2009 Act and make an end to the widely-condemned practice of fur farming once and for all. To counter the campaign of misinformation spread by fur trade lobbyist in Serbia, the Fur Free Alliance worked closely together with Serbian member organisation Freedom for Animals to expose the scientific facts on fur production and stress the need for a national ban.

To generate political and media interest and push back against proposed law changes, last June the Make Fur History exhibition was organised in Belgrade by Freedom for Animals, joining international experts, decision makers and journalists to address the negative impact of fur farming.

Ultimately, Serbia’s government righteously listened to the concerned public and animal rights groups and made an end to the unnecessary and cruel practice of fur production, sparing thousands of animals unimaginable suffering on Serbian fur farms.

Snezana Milovanovic, director of the Serbian animal protection organization Freedom for Animals, says:

“For 15 years now, Freedom for Animals has advocated for a fur-free Serbia by advancing and supporting legislation to abolish this brutal exploitation of animals. With the enforcement of the 2009 Animal Welfare Act, that makes it illegal to keep, reproduce, import, export and kill animals only for the production of fur, a great victory is finally achieved. Not only is this ban important for animals kept for fur production in Serbia, but also for the whole South East European region, and it signifies a major step forward for animal rights worldwide.”

Above – Inside a Serbian fur farm

Chinchillas are the only animals kept for fur in Serbia.

Each year, approximately 12.000 chinchillas were killed on Serbian fur farms by the end of the phase-out period. The intense battery cage system used on fur farms deprives chinchillas from the opportunity to express their natural behavior – such as running and jumping – and causes severe welfare problems. International studies have shown stress-related behavioral disorders, such as pelt biting and infant mortality, are highly common on chinchilla fur farms.

Learn more about welfare problems on chinchilla fur farms.

Chinchillas are rodents and are native to the Andes Mountains of northern Chile. Although often kept as pets, chinchillas were nearly driven to extinction because of the demand for their fur. To breed chinchillas for fur, the rodents were taken from their natural habitat in such large numbers chinchillas are now an endangered species. Even though chinchillas are now protected by law in their natural habitat as endangered species, the populations continue to decline. However, thousands of chinchillas are still bred commercially for their fur in several regions of Europe (i.e. Poland, Denmark, Hungary) and in South-America (Brazil and Argentina).

The ban in Serbia is in line with developments all across Europe, where in the past decades 14 countries have voted for legislation to end fur farming. In the past year alone, Norway, once world’s largest fox pelt producer, Belgium and Luxembourg adopted legislation to end fur farming. At this moment, fur farming bans are on the parliamentary agenda in Poland, Ireland, Lithuania, Denmark and Estonia.

 Some other pictures from our own archive used for the ‘ban’ campaign – WAV: