20 July 2023

Press Release

It’s now up to the European Commission to provide a formal reply to the 1.5 million citizens who have called for a Fur Free Europe, in the most successful European Citizen Initiative related to animal welfare.

Today the European Citizen Initiative (ECI) organisers formally met with the European Commission (EC) to present the case, and signify the importance of a full harmonised ban on fur farms and on the placement of farmed fur products on the European market.

More than 1.5 million citizens asked for a Fur Free Europe, and 19 Member States have already totally or partially banned fur farming on grounds of animal welfare and public health: a clear sign is being sent to the EC that this practice cannot be justified under any circumstances.

The call was also recently reiterated by a majority of Member States during the last session of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH) and has been publicly supported by a number of members of the European Parliament.

By the end of 2023, the EC will publish a proposal aimed at improving the EU’s animal welfare legislation to align it with the latest scientific evidence. The organisers reiterated once more that while it’s possible to improve welfare standards for domesticated animals, science has clearly shown that this is not possible for wild animals on fur farms. Consequently, a ban on fur farming should be included in the proposal.

In addition, fur farms pose significant risk for the spread of zoonotic diseases, putting both humans and animals at risk, a fact which became widely evident during recent COVID-19 outbreaks. Banning the placement of farmed fur products on the EU market will ensure that fur produced under similarly cruel conditions in third countries is not allowed to be sold within the EU.

After the autumn hearing at the European Parliament, The EC will provide a formal reply to the ECI by mid-December.

“As the EU is preparing to take a giant leap for animals, and with the set revision for the Kept Animals Regulation, this is a great opportunity to show that such cruel unjustifiable practices have no place in Europe. Citizens have made their voice loudly heard, and for this democratic tool to be successful, we expect a positive response from the EC soon,”

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals.

Regards Mark

AGRIFISH: Member States call for a Fur Free Europe

26 June 2023

Press Release

A majority of Member States called today for a ban on fur farming and asked the European Commission (EC) to examine the possibility of a ban on the placement of farmed fur products on the European market, supporting the recently submitted Fur Free Europe ECI.

During today’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH), the Austrian, German and Netherlands delegations submitted an information note, supported by the Belgian, Cyprus, Czech, Estonian, Lithuanian, Luxembourg and Slovak delegations, calling for a ban on fur farming and to examine the possibility of introducing a ban on the sale and marketing of farmed fur products. The paper then received the support of seven other Member States during the meeting.

It’s the second time that the Council expressed its favour for an end to fur farming. Indeed back in 2021, the signatories of another information note called on the EC to take action to permanently end fur farming in the EU based on animal welfare, ethics as well as health risks for humans and animals. 

The new call comes just after the formal submission of the successful Fur Free Europe ECI which collected more than 1.5 million validated signatures in less than 10 months. 

19 Member States have already totally or partially banned or strictly regulated fur farming, sometimes with phasing-out periods. However, the lack of harmonisation in the EU undermines those very measures: fur farming can be “outsourced” with farms moving to other Member States, as a result, distorting the internal market. Moreover, it’s important not only to ban fur farming but the placement of farmed fur products on the European market, in order to ensure that fur produced under similarly cruel conditions in third countries is not sold within the EU.

The Member States called on the EC to uphold its commitment to pay “full regard to the welfare of animals” in line with Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The note also refers to the EC’s commitment to end caged farming systems for other animals and how maintaining these systems for fur farms would be incongruous. They emphasised that under no conditions can the welfare of wild animals on fur farms be protected.

A number of scientists have also called on the European Commission to end such practices saying that the significant danger for humans and terrible suffering for animals requires urgent and proportionate action.

The support for a Fur Free Europe is yet again across the board: citizens, scientists and Member States spoke up against this cruel and unnecessary practice. With the constant decline in fur production since the last decade, followed by a sharp decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fur industry has had a low impact in the EU economy, and therefore an economic argument holds no ground. There is no way the EC can ignore such clear calls, now it’s the time to turn them into action and include the bans in the new Kept Animals Regulation.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

Regards Mark

1600 mink culled due to COVID outbreak on Italian fur farm, despite ban

13 May 2023

LAV

Following a delay in implementing the Italian ban on fur farms, 1600 mink have been culled due a new SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. The farming of animals for the production of fur has been prohibited since 1 January 2022 in Italy, however there are still thousands of mink housed on five farms.

In April, after confirming the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a mink farm in Calvagese della Riviera, the culling of all 1600 minks began. This was the fourth COVID-19 outbreak in an Italian farm.

The mink housed on this farm had been awaiting transfer to shelter facilities since the implementation of the fur farming ban.

LAV launched a new appeal to Minister Lollobrigida denouncing the enormous delay in defining the procedures for the transfer.

Continuing to keep thousands of mink housed in intensive systems poses serious risk to the health not only of the animals, but also of humans, given that they can transmit, mutate and serve as intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2. 

At the same time as the WHO announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the outbreak in Calvagese della Riviera was detected, acting as a reminder that swift action should be taken in order to avoid future pandemics.

In addition to the animal welfare problems inherent to fur farming, several questions regarding the public health risks have been tabled to the European Commission, whose answer has been that a EU-wide ban on fur farming would be a disproportionate and unjustifiable measure. 

The European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe gathered 1,701,892 signatures from across the European Union, and continues to call on the European Commission to ban fur farming on ethical, public health and environmental grounds.

Recently, the MEPs Working Group for the European Citizens’ Initiative tabled another question on the threat to public health posed by fur farms. In its reply, the Commission stated that “in terms of both SARS-CoV-2 and HPAI in mink farms, Member States assess local health risks and take measures according to the epidemiological circumstances and in line with the SARS CoV-2 risk assessments carried out by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as well as the EFSA/ECDC/EU Reference Laboratories joint assessment on the HPAI situation that is regularly published”.

Regards Mark

Fox farming in Europe: Investigation on Polish fur farm reveals dark reality for foxes

15 February 2023

Essere Animali

A new investigation released by Essere Animali has documented the conditions for foxes farmed for their fur in Europe. Foxes were shown to be confined in cramped and dilapidated individual cages, with poor access to food and water and without any enrichment.

The footage was obtained in February 2023 in Poland, Europe’s leading country for mink breeding for fur production and second for fox breeding, after Finland.

The videos collected in Poland by Essere Animali show:

● Foxes with stereotypical behaviour compulsively circling inside individual battery-operated cages, banging against the metal walls;

● Dirty, bare battery cages with no environmental enrichment;

● Cages with a floor made entirely of wire mesh, totally unsuitable for the animals and a source of additional pain to the paws;

● Poor systems for watering and feeding the animals: in the cages, the only way to water the animals is a single iron cup per animal and almost all the cups were empty when they entered the farm;

● A fox with health problems in its muzzle and mouth, which had very swollen gums due to hereditary hyperplastic gingivitis: this is a genetic disease that affects foxes selected for fur production and makes their condition much worse due to unhealthy life on farms. It often results in the premature slaughter of the animals.

Fur Free Europe is already a record-breaking initiative, demonstrating people’s sensitivity on this issue, but it is still important that thousands of citizens sign the European Citizens’ Initiative, thus showing the European Commission how urgent it is to legislate to protect these animals and ban the production, import and trade of fur in Europe. In these farms, all natural behaviours are denied to the animals, in no way different from our pets, and we cannot but ask ourselves if ethically we can still accept this. Our answer is obviously no: in a world in which we have so many more sustainable alternatives to animal furs and numerous brands that have decided to abandon fur, it is time to turn the page for good and also show manufacturers a better and more futuristic path, free of animal exploitation.

Brenda Ferretti – Campaigns Manager, Essere Animal

The documented conditions show the extreme and repressive confinement to which foxes are subjected. These animals have a complex social life in the wild, form pairs and family groups, and are used to digging dens with numerous tunnels and moving in a very large radius. Red foxes are able to walk up to 10 km a day, while arctic foxes in migratory seasons cover up to 100 km in a single period.

All of this is denied on farms, which do not guarantee any possibility for animals to express their natural behaviour.

The investigation is part of the Fur Free Europe European Citizens’ Initiative, which in just over nine months has collected more than 1.5 million signatures from European citizens who want to see an end to cruel, unnecessary and unethical fur production.

The signature collection will continue until 1 March 2023. Do you support this initiative? Sign now. 

All for the sake of a rich bitch fur hag !

Regards Mark

Fur Hag.

20 January 2023

Dyrevernalliansen

The last two fur farms in Norway will be closing permanently by the end of January 2023 according to the country’s Fur Farmers Association, bringing the industry to a close two years before a legal ban comes into force in 2025.

On 13 June 2019, the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) passed a law banning fur farming. The ban was initiated by the Norwegian Liberal Party. In the years before this, fur farming had been fiercely debated by many parties, including the Norwegian Labour Party and the Norwegian Conservative Party.

Dyrevernalliansen report that in 2001, there were more than 1,000 fur farms operating in Norway, declining to only 80 by early 2021. The organisation has lobbied since 2001 for a ban on fur farming.

Together we won in the end, and it is wonderful to know that no new fox pups or mink kits will be born in cages in Norway. Dyrevernalliansen will continue our work for the animals who need it the most. Our next goal is a ban on the import of fur products into Norway. Fur farming is animal cruelty no matter where in the world it takes place. Now that production has been discontinued in Norway, it is deeply unethical that we continue to import products from fur farms in other countries.

Anton Krag – CEO, Dyrevernalliansen

The European Citizens Initiative Fur Free Europe is calling for a ban on fur farming and the sale of farmed fur products across the European Union.

Do you support this ban? Add your name now. 

Regards Mark

Working group for the ECI Fur Free Europe successfully launched at the European Parliament

25 January 2023

Today, a kick-off meeting was held at the European Parliament to launch a working group dedicated to the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe. With over 1.3 million signatures collected in 8 months, the ECI Fur Free Europe clearly reflects the wishes of a majority of European citizens for a Europe without exploitation of animals for fashion.

The working group, announced last year during a meeting of the Intergroup on animal welfare and conservation, will be coordinated by Eurogroup for Animals in close collaboration with the Fur Free Alliance. 

The working group hosts representatives from the main political groups, and will work to support the Fur Free Europe initiative by coordinating amongst those groups and collaborating with civil society organisations involved in the ECI. The goal is to ensure the Parliamentary process which follows every ECI, and to adopt a resolution for a ban on fur farming and the sale of farmed fur products in Europe.

In addition, the working group, in conjunction with members of the Intergroup for the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, will aim to foster discussion and raise awareness in the European Parliament about the serious cross-cutting issues related to fur farming and the fur trade. The group will also participate in public campaign activities to apply further pressure and draw attention to the issue.

This is not the first time that the European Parliament has addressed problems connected with fur production. In May 2020, it adopted the Report on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which acknowledged that fur production significantly compromises animal welfare and increases the susceptibility to infectious diseases, including zoonoses, as it has occurred with COVID-19 specially in mink:

Above – Brilliant Anja !!

[…] fur production, which involves the confinement of thousands of undomesticated animals of a similar genotype in close proximity to one another under chronically stressful conditions, significantly compromises animal welfare and increases their susceptibility to infectious diseases including zoonoses […]. The coming years will be crucial to end the enormous suffering of animals in the EU. In light of the Commissions’ strong commitment to revise the EU Animal Welfare legislation, this working group represents a crucial and timely initiative. We will work together to secure strong support from the European Parliament on the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe. The only possible outcome, as demanded by European citizens, is a ban on fur farming and a ban on the sale of farmed fur products on the European market.

Anja Hazekamp, chairwoman of the Fur Free Europe working group

Fur free Europe – browse the publication:

Fur Free Europe | Eurogroup for Animals

Regards Mark