Open wounds, sores, leg deformities, psychological stress, the fear of those who know what it means to suffer deeply. Fur animals experience this and much more pain, even on farms where animal welfare standards are high.
It is the one who reports it Humane Society International/UK in a terrifying new investigation conducted on some farms in Finland, whose products are sold in Italy as well as in the United Kingdom. In collaboration with the Finnish Association for Animal Protection Oikeutta eläimilleinvestigators inspected some harvesting sheds heartbreaking footage.
During the investigation, the terrible existence of foxes bred for their fur was documented. Theirs is not life. They are confined in tiny cages stripped of any element of environmental enrichment, where natural behaviors are annihilated.
Fur foxes are deprived of everything. They cannot follow their instincts, hunt or even feel the grass under their paws, something that should be normal for a wild animal.
The images also show obese foxes, selected for increased fur production. But this, as one may mistakenly believe, does not only happen on farms without adequate certifications on animal welfare policies.
The farms at the center of the investigation have obtained certification of the SAGA system, including the protocol Welfur, like almost 100% of the fur production farms on Finnish soil.
Finnish fur farms describe animal welfare as ‘a top priority’, but this survey tells a very different story,” commented Claire Bass, Director of Campaigns and Institutional Relations at Humane Society International/UK.
Finland is proud of it, supplying high fashion brands such as Ermanno Sceverino, Fendi, Woolrich and boasting very high levels of animal welfare, but all that glitters is not gold. And it doesn’t end here.
Investigators also found shortcomings among biosecurity measures for the prevention of zoonoses. The Finnish regulation requires the use of nets to prevent wild birds, such as seagulls, from coming into contact with farmed animals, their water or their food.
But the videos actually show ineffective nets covering the entire length of the cages and even the carcass of a wild gull near a row of cages.
In light of what emerged from the investigation, HSI continues to fight for a European ban. Everything that revolves around the world of fur is made of infinite cruelty to animals bred and killed in the most gruesome ways, anal electrocution for foxes, gas chambers for minks.
If animal suffering cannot and should not take a back seat, we cannot ignore the high risk to public health that animal farming for fur production poses. Do we need more reasons to ban these horrors?
Several EU states have decided to abandon fur farming, the latest being Romania. The ban cannot wait, we owe it to millions of foxes, minks, chinchillas and many other animals.
