FUR FREE EUROPE INITIATIVE, THE ETHICAL, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ANIMAL FUR PRODUCTION
On 16 March 2022, the FUR FREE EUROPE initiative was registered with the European Commission, which envisages the abolition of animal fur farms and fur sales throughout Europe.
The reasons for collecting more than 1,530,000 signatures across Europe in favour of this initiative are manifold.
The intensive farming of animals for fur production is in clear conflict with the most basic concept of animal welfare and freedom. These farms, in fact, are unable to meet the behavioural needs of fur-bearing animals (mostly of wild origin such as raccoons, mink, foxes), respecting neither the five freedoms nor the five areas for their welfare, an argument emphasised since 2001 by a study of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare of the European Commission [1], but which no real action has ever followed from the Commission itself.
Concerning intensive fur farms, it is also possible to state that they pose a risk to human and animal health, as we have learnt in recent years during the Covid-19 pandemic, when hundreds of mink breeding farms were subject to outbreaks of SARS-COV-2 or highly pathogenic avian influenza. Events that led to the culling of hundreds of thousands of animals.
Finally, fur farming has a significant environmental impact and poses a serious threat to native biodiversity, and the industry responsible to produce these products also plays a proportionate role in global pollution. Suffice it to say, for example, that 120 to 140 kg of CO2 are developed for the creation of 1 kg of mink fur, compared to 6 to 7 kg for a synthetic fur.
Until 1 March 2023 you can join the initiative for a fur free Europe by signing the petition through the European Commission’s portal.
Article by Samuele Giovanardi Fiorucci, Italian Climate Network
[1] SCAHAW (2001). The Welfare of Animals Kept for Fur Production. Report of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare. p. 41