Above – The animal rights group Oikeutta Elaimille (Justice for Animals) revealed footage of animals leftto sit in their own waste whilst suffering from infections and other physical ailments, such as this white fox with an infected ear
Forced to eat their dead siblings, left to suffer painful infections and bred to become hugely obese… then killed to make coats: Finnish fur farm horrors revealed in undercover video
They demanded the Spanish government close all fur factories
More than 50 naked animal rights activists covered in red paint protested in Madrid shouting slogans. The members of the international animal rights organisation “AnimaNaturalis”, protested in the centre of the Spanish capital, demanding the closure of fur farms.
Alicia Silverstone is passionate about animal rights credit:Bang Showbiz
I’d rather go naked than wear animals, says Alicia Silverstone
The 46-year-old actress – who went vegan in 1999 – has underlined her support for animals rights by posing naked in a new campaign for PETA, the world’s largest animal rights organisation.
It takes the death of one innocent black bear for every guard hat produced.
We (like most) have called for this to stop for years; maybe finally something will be done now to stop this unnecessary murder and replace them in future with faux fur hats. Just as effective – and cruelty free !
We are over half way there in calling for a fur free Europe, and at this present time around 600,000 Europeans have already signed the current Fur Free Europe ECI.
This means that the campaign is well over half of the way to meeting the target of 1,000,000 validated signatures backing the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) which would, if auccessful, oblige the European Commission to both respond and take action.
The Fur Free Europe ECI calls on the EU to ban both fur farming and the placing on the market of farmed fur products.
The ECI Fur Free Europe runs from 18/05/2022, and lasts for one year. So it is essential that we push this campaign and get as many signatures as possible over the coming months,
In order to influence the Commissions draft proposals for changes to the animal welfare legislation across the EU, 1 million signatures need to be collected by around March 2023, which makes the next few months crucial in this campaign.
British and other worldwide citizens are not elegible to sign this petition – which requires validation and is limited to EU citizens only.
But, as many EU citizens still live in the UK, they still have the right to sign the ECI for a fur free Europe.
If you are an EU citizen, or you know of any, then please sign, or urge them to sign by going to:
‘Never have I ever regretted flying the flag for vegans as much as I do now after seeing this pathetic and unacceptable attempt at protesting. Back in my day at least we had the common decency to show some respect and dignity.’
She protested the fur trade by standing naked outside Harrods almost every day for a year in 2015.
Ms Porter’s activism is often shocking and she wants it to lead to discussion – but she says she did not go out of her way to cause major disruption like current protesters
‘It has almost cost me my sanity’: Animal rights protester who stood naked outside Harrods reveals the true toll of her activism… but her only regret is sharing her cause with ‘pathetic’ modern eco-zealots
Heidi Porter has no regrets about her activism, despite admitting it has ‘cost me my sanity many times’
But even she says the current eco zealots wreaking havoc on the streets of London are in the wrong
She said the new crop of activists turned on her because her own views didn’t align exactly with theirs
Ms Porter’s comments come amid a month of chaos in the United Kingdom due to repeated protests
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
Eco activists targeted the world famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting by Johannes Vermeer in the Netherlands in the latest brazen gallery attack
Below – This is the moment a passerby intervened with a paint-wielding protester vandalised the MI5 building on Millbank, London, on Monday morning.
Police intervened after Tez Burns, 34, sprayed orange paint on the exterior of the MI5 building on Marsham Street.
There is right and wrong Direct Action.
Having been involved myself with direct action, you need to get public support on your side by facts and education, not by destruction.
Regards Mark
Below – Myself and Barb protest at Dover (England) against the live export of baby calves destined for the veal crates of Europe.
World Animal Day was celebrated on 4 October, a day to reflect on the incredible animal kingdom and all of the unique species we share our planet with. Mink, foxes and chinchillas, species typically found on fur farms in Europe, are inherently wild animals that have fascinating lives in their natural habitats.
This month, we are delving deeper into how these species live in the wild, and how their natural instincts are stifled on fur farms.
A dog’s life for foxes
Red foxes mainly live in pairs or in family groups of up to ten adults and pups, digging dens with many tunnels. Their Arctic cousins roam for dozens of kilometres. But on fur farms, both species are condemned to solitary confinement in wire-mesh battery cages measuring 0.8-1.2m2.
Mink are restricted to even smaller cages, whereas in the wild they climb and jump between trees across a territory of up to 3km2 a day – that is when they’re not diving to depths of up to six metres and swimming underwater for over thirty.
Even the humble chinchilla can jump up to four times the 50cm height of the cages where they are imprisoned on farms. Used to living in colonies of over 100 yet forming breeding pairs, they find themselves constrained to small groups.
The failure to satisfy the most essential needs for the animals’ physical and mental wellbeing leads to distressed behaviour, such as pacing and circling, fur-chewing and tail-biting. Self-inflicted injuries, infected wounds, missing limbs and even cannibalism are recurrent on fur farms, as are high levels of reproductive failure and infant mortality.
Being wild animals, they are naturally fearful of humans. When heavy gloves do not provide adequate protection, handlers resort to metal neck or body tongs, and even traps placed in the cage.
No animal fares well on fur farms
The WelFur programme claims to assess animal welfare on fur farms in Europe. But as its protocols were developed to apply to housing in cages, this means the results of their studies only tell us that all fur farms are basically the same, not that the animals live in adequate conditions.
Animal welfare can only be looked at properly through the prism of the Five Domains, which assesses the balance between positive and negative experiences and feelings – a paradigm shift from the previous Five Freedoms model focused on the elimination of negative experiences. Using this animal-centric approach, fur farming is clearly an utterly unacceptable cruelty. It needs to be stopped.
If you agree that no animals should be punished for having fur, but that instead keeping animals on farms to be killed for their fur should be illegal, don’t hesitate before signing our Fur Free Europe European Citizens’ Initiative to ban fur farms and farmed fur products on the European market.
“Fur Free Europe”, our latest report, goes into more detail about the ethological needs of species farmed for their fur, and how the conditions these wild animals are subjected to make it impossible for their behavioural needs to be met.
A clear message of support from MEPs calling for a future without fur, while the ECI “Fur Free Europe” reaches more than 400,000 signatures in less than five months. The Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals held a dedicated meeting in Strasbourg on “The case for a Fur Free Europe”: scientific experts, MEPs, Member States and civil society make their case for a new Europe without fur.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Strasbourg, 6 October 2022
In May 2022, Eurogroup for Animals, together with 80 NGOs, launched the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) Fur Free Europe which has already collected more than 400,000 signatures. The ECI calls on the EU to ban fur farming and the placement on the European market of farmed fur products, since fur is unethical, unsafe and unsustainable.
The role of the European Parliament and its elected representatives is key to turning this massive public call into reality. That’s why the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals held a dedicated meeting in Strasbourg on “The case for a Fur Free Europe”.
After an introduction from the President of the Intergroup Tilly Metz MEP (LU, Greens/EFA), Reineke Hameleers presented the campaign on behalf of Fur Free Europe, and introduced the new report on the reasons why we need to ban fur farming and the placement of farmed fur products on the European market from public health, legal, environmental and ethical perspectives.
More than 400,000 citizens have already made it clear that fur no longer has a place in Europe. Member States are ready to back their request. Today’s exchange with experts, MEPs and the horrific but important images from the documentary complement the request. Society as a whole is ready to transition away from cruelty, Europe is ready for this move and, in order to succeed, we need the EP to be strong in its demands toward the EC. I am positive we can count on the elected representatives. 2023 can be the year we make history for the animals and for the EU.
Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
The presentation was followed by a partial screening of the documentary SLAY from the makers of the award-winning films Cowspiracy and What The Health. SLAY follows filmmaker Rebecca Cappelli’s journey around the world to uncover the dark side of the fashion industry: a harrowing story of greenwashing, mislabeling, and animal cruelty. SLAY provides an in-depth and eye-opening look into the realities of today’s fashion industry while pointing the way towards viable and sustainable alternatives.
The suffering of animals in the fashion industry is greenwashed into oblivion while those skin industries are destroying the planet and harming people. SLAY aims to challenge the notion that animal skins are a fabric, and open people’s eyes to the dark realities behind some of the most sought after skins in fashion.
Rebecca Cappelli, Director and Producer, SLAY
Bo Algers, Professor emeritus at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, gave a presentation on the “Behavioural needs of Mink and Foxes in the fur industry”.
Johannes Rauch, Austrian Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection intervened with a video message: “In my role as Minister of Health, I strongly push towards the realisation of the „One Health“ approach. That means we have to look at human health, animal health and environmental health as interlinked issues that strongly impact one another. I am convinced that we will have to fundamentally change this system of animal exploitation to avoid future pandemics. This is why I wholeheartedly support the European Citizens’ Initiative for a Fur Free Europe and I want to ask you to support it as well. The EU must use its power and also close the EU market to farmed fur products from outside the EU. Just like we have done with products from certain trapping methods, seal products or cat and dog fur. In order to make progress and live up to our moral standards and the responsible treatment of animals as sentient beings, I strongly urge all of you to support this common cause, support the Citizens‘ initiative and make this step possible towards the goal of a fur free Europe”.
The message echoed the information note tabled by Austria and the Netherlands during a meeting of the Council of the European Union (Agriculture and Fisheries), supported by Belgium, Germany Luxembourg and Slovakia, calling on the European Commission to investigate the possibility for a ban on fur farming. The call to end fur farming in the EU on the grounds of animal welfare, public health and ethical considerations, was backed by a total of twelve Member States during the deliberations on this paper.
Life and Death in Fur Farming. Ten, now eight, mink kits in a nest box on a Swedish fur farm. These American mink kits fight for space and to reach their food. A sign indicates two have died. Though the legal cage size is now larger and a two-storey box a requirement for adult mink, with no more than two adults per cage, injuries still occur. Sweden, 2010. Jo-Anne McArthur / Djurrattsalliansen / We Animals Media
I think it’s striking that these images factually demonstrating abject animal suffering in the “fur industry” look exactly like the reality of abject suffering of animals in the “animal agriculture food industry” while, in the USA, the fur industry council degenerates like to boast that their victims on fur farms are executed onsite …
(via anal electrocution, for example, where humans physically restrain terrified creatures and insert rods into their anuses to electrocute them – while, interestingly, when humans get colonoscopies, for example, requiring anal insertion of instruments to capture colon images by people who must be educated, trained and certified to do so, which, by the way, is to prevent death versus causing it, humans actually get sedation)
… and therefore don’t require the horrors inherent in slaughter transportation. Imagine bragging that your death industry is marginally “better” than another death industry while ignoring the entire violent D-E-A-T-H requirement of innocent victims in both. If horrific transport is bad, actual violent killing is WORSE.
I wouldn’t expect anything other than deception and manipulation and abuse from the FAM folks in either, though. SL
This week we’ve got big news on our progress with getting animal stories in the media. Jo-Anne McArthur has been awarded Highly Commended in Wildlife Photographer of the Year for her image Life and Death in Fur Farming.
The image is one of 14 Highly Commended images announced on September 1 as a preview of this year’s competition, which attracted entries from photographers of all ages and experience levels from 93 countries. Jo-Anne is awarded in the category of Photojournalism.
Jo-Anne shares some words about the story behind this image and her hopes for its impact:
The first time I visited fur farms was in 2009. It was a shock to see the decrepit, putrid, mass incarceration of so many animals in so many sheds and tiny cages, offering me yet another of the many moments of disbelief that I experience in my career. I have since photographed fur farming extensively, especially in my home country of Canada, and it is with urgency that I wish for this unnecessary industry to end. I am so happy that we are seeing bans on fur farming in many countries, including those who have traditionally supported a large fur industry.
To say that I’m thrilled that WPY has awarded this mink farming image in their competition is an understatement, because the reason I do this investigative work is so that people can look, consider, discuss, critique, care, change. WPY offers this image of ten, now eight, mink kits and their mother in a cramped nesting box for the world to view. Many people do not know that animals are industrially farmed for their fur. They are unaware of the conditions. They are unaware that these animals are killed by gassing and anal electrocution, or that they are kept in tiny cages by the millions, globally, each year, so that we can wear fur trim, have fur pompoms on our hats, or a poof of fur on a child’s trinket.
I feel passionately about taking photos of fur farming so that the images can help campaigners and policy makers end this industry, and continue to raise awareness amongst the unknowing public. Images are a strong and crucial part of the puzzle when it comes to creating a kinder world for animals.
Mink farming is an industry where, traditionally, the welfare of these semi‑aquatic, naturally solitary mammals has not been a priority unless it affects the fur. But in 2020, mink farming came under the spotlight when it became clear that not only could mink catch the Covid-19 virus, but that the virus could mutate in mink and be transmitted back to humans. In response, Denmark – then the largest mink-fur producer after China – shut down its industry, killing all 17 million animals, and in the Netherlands and Spain, hundreds of thousands were killed. But in Sweden, after a temporary ban on breeding, the government allowed its 20 or so farms to reopen in 2022.
Djurrattsalliansen, the non-profit organization Jo-Anne was working with when she took this photograph, has played a significant role in fur farm investigations in Sweden, which have helped to bring the number of farms down significantly.
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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Animals don’t hate, and we’re supposed to be better than them.” – Elvis Presley
“Let us remember that animals are not mere resources for human consumption. They are splendid beings in their own right, who have evolved alongside us as co-inheritors of all the beauty and abundance of life on this planet.” – Marc Bekoff
“Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind’s capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don’t; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.” – Matthew Scully
“Lots of people talk to animals…Not very many listen though…that’s the problem.” – A.A. Milne
“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” – James Herriot
“Because we have viewed other animals through the myopic lens of our self-importance, we have misperceived who and what they are. Because we have repeated our ignorance, one to the other, we have mistaken it for knowledge.” – Tom Regan
“True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which is deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.” – Milan Kundera
Today, October 4th, is World Animals Day.
World Animal Day is an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.
The mission of World Animal Day is “to raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe.
WAD is an annual event.
The MISSION OF WORLD ANIMAL DAY To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animal Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It’s celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.
World Animals Voice 