FINLAND: Investigation reveals animal suffering on Finnish fur farms activists call for EU-wide ban скачать в хорошем качестве

FINLAND: Investigation reveals animal suffering on Finnish fur farms activists call for EU-wide ban

Fur farming has already been banned in 22 European nations—most recently in Romania and Lithuania. Finland is one of the last remaining European countries in which farming animals for fur remains legal, with the Finnish trade boasting that almost 100% of its fox fur farms are certified by the SAGA scheme (including the WelFur protocol), a set of guidelines promulgated by the Finnish auction house SAGA, which promises “the highest level of animal welfare”. However, the horrifying conditions documented—including on SAGA assured farms—show the heartbreaking reality of the industry: foxes confined in small, barren cages for their entire lives, never able to feel the grass beneath their feet nor carry out natural behaviors such as running, digging and hunting. Dr. Joanna Swabe, HSI/Europe’s senior director of public affairs, said: “The few fashion brands which continue to peddle cruel fur products from Finland, , are sadly out-of-touch with today’s consumers who want nothing to do with confining animals in cages for their entire lives only to be gassed or electrocuted to death for their pelts. It is because of investigations like this that people are seeing the true cost of fur and realising just how unnecessary it is. This latest investigation provides further disturbing evidence of why we must have an EU-wide ban on fur farming to end the cruelty of this obsolete industry in Europe once and for all.” Outbreaks of both COVID-19 and highly pathogenic avian influenza on more than 500 fur farms in Europe and North America have alarmed scientists and public health officials. Since the avian flu outbreaks on fur farms in Finland in 2023, where the original source of infection was believed to have been wild gulls, the Finnish authorities have introduced biosecurity measures and mandatory carcass testing periods. They have also instituted regulations requiring the use of netting to prevent wild birds from accessing the housed animals’ cages and their food and drinking water; the netting is required to be checked regularly and any birds observed inside must be removed immediately. HSI/UK investigators found farms risking public health by flouting these rules. In many instances the netting failed to cover the full length of the cages and, on one farm, the decaying body of a wild gull was found just beneath a row of caged foxes Kristo Muurimaa of Oikeutta eläimille said: “Finnish fur farms are a disease disaster waiting to happen. The cages are open to the elements and there’s no way to reliably prevent wild birds from infecting the fur animals with avian influenza. We urge the Finnish Government to follow the path of 22 other European countries and provide support so that farmers can quickly shut down this industry.” Fur facts · Tens of millions of animals suffer and die each year in the global fur trade. The vast majority of animals are kept in barren battery cages on fur farms. · In addition to the physical and psychological torment of being confined in small, barren cages for their entire lives, the methods typically used to kill animals on fur farms are equally distressing. Foxes are typically killed by anal electrocution and mink are gassed. · During the 2023 outbreaks of avian influenza on Finnish fur farms, where mammal-to-mammal transmission was believed likely to have occurred, the Finnish authorities ordered all the animals on infected farms (around 500,000 mink, fox, raccoon dog and sable) to be killed on public health grounds. · In a July 2023article published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July 2023, Prof. Wendy Barclay and Dr. Thomas Peacock of Imperial College London warned that fur farming poses a risk for the emergence of future disease outbreaks and should be considered in the same high-risk category as the bushmeat trade and live animal markets. The PNAS article states that “fur farming takes place in a high-density animal environment that allows for rapid spread of viruses with pandemic potential—and for virus adaptation to animals that would be unlikely to occur in nature.” · A Finnish Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry sets out precautionary measures to prevent the spread of avian flu from wild animals to fur animals. Visiting the farms, investigators took full biosecurity protection measures, wearing new bio-suits, shoe covers and face masks for each farm, and returned negative COVID-19 tests prior to visits.