Horrifying truth of fur industry revealed in new footage from farms full of animals suffering

The Mirror has been campaigning to prohibition imports of fur into the UK alongside HSI/UK which has exposed caller suffering astatine farms successful Finland - 1 of the past remaining countries successful the UK successful which farming remains legal

Shocking caller footage of animals suffering on fur farms successful Finland - a state that supplies the UK - has uncovered foxes with earthy unfastened wounds, weeping infected eyes and deformed splayed feet

The probe besides recovered zoonotic illness prevention measures being flouted, constituting an alarming nationalist wellness risk. Tens of millions of animals suffer and dice each twelvemonth successful the planetary fur trade. The immense bulk of animals killed for their fur are kept successful barren artillery cages connected fur farms. The Mirror has been moving alongside Humane Society International/UK to extremity imports arsenic portion of the Fur Free Britain campaign.

In summation to the carnal and intelligence torment of being confined successful small, barren cages for their full lives, the methods typically utilized to termination animals connected fur farms are arsenic distressing. Foxes are typically killed by anal electrocution and mink are gassed.

Investigators for the Humane Society International/UK successful concern with Finnish carnal extortion organisation Oikeutta Eläimille besides filmed obese “monster foxes” with unnaturally excessive tegument folds from selective breeding to summation their fur yield, and foxes displaying repetitive behaviours indicative of intelligence distress. The UK has allowed imports of much than £16 cardinal of fur from Finland since 2000.

Finland is 1 of the past remaining European countries successful which farming animals for fur remains legal, with the Finnish commercialized boasting that astir 100% of its fox fur farms are certified by the SAGA strategy (including the WelFur protocol), a acceptable of guidelines promulgated by the Finnish auction location SAGA, which promises “the highest level of carnal welfare” .

But the horrifying conditions documented—including connected SAGA-assured farms—show the heartbreaking world of the industry. Foxes are confined successful small, barren cages for their full lives, ne'er capable to consciousness the writer beneath their feet nor transportation retired earthy behaviours specified arsenic running, digging and hunting. Fox fur originating from Finland is utilized by brands specified arsenic Woolrich, Ermanno Scervino, Yves Salomon and Fendi and tin beryllium recovered successful UK shops specified arsenic Harrods.

Claire Bass, elder manager of campaigns and nationalist affairs astatine Humane Society International/UK, who is campaigning alongside the Daily Mirror to extremity imports of fur into the UK, said: “Finnish fur farms picture having carnal payment arsenic ‘a apical priority’ but this probe tells a precise antithetic story. Forced to walk their full lives successful cages lone a small bigger than their ain bodies, galore of the animals we saw were chronically stressed, others had diseased eyes and mouths and immoderate had raw, intelligibly untreated injuries. In addition, we saw regulations designed to halt the dispersed of avian flu connected fur farms flouted. I’ve visited astir 20 fur farms successful the past six years and from what I’ve witnessed connected each juncture it’s wide that the fur commercialized routinely disregards some carnal payment and nationalist health.

“These appalling conditions are worlds isolated from the ‘luxury’ representation the fur commercialized tries to portray, and stores similar Harrods should rethink having their brands anyplace adjacent this indefensible suffering. We impulse MPs and the UK Government to backmost Ruth Jones’ Bill to bring an extremity to Britain’s engagement successful the cruel and unsafe fur trade.”

Singer-songwriter Will Young, who is backing the Mirror’s and HSI/UK’s run said: “Fur is disgustingly cruel and it breaks my bosom to spot foxes and different animals suffering for this outdated ‘fashion’ product. I’m arrogant to beryllium urging the Government to enactment Ruth Jones MP’s Bill to prohibition imports. We request a Fur Free Britain.”

Outbreaks of some COVID-19 and highly pathogenic avian influenza connected much than 500 fur farms successful Europe and North America person alarmed scientists and nationalist wellness officials. Since the avian flu outbreaks connected fur farms successful Finland successful 2023, wherever the archetypal root of the corruption was believed to person been chaotic gulls, the Finnish authorities person introduced biosecurity measures and mandatory carcass investigating periods. They person besides introduced regulations requiring the usage of netting to forestall chaotic birds from accessing the housed animals’ cages and their nutrient and drinking water; the netting is required to beryllium checked regularly and immoderate birds observed wrong indispensable beryllium removed immediately. HSI/UK investigators recovered farms risking nationalist wellness by flouting these rules. In galore instances the netting failed to screen the afloat magnitude of the cages and, connected 1 farm, the decaying assemblage of a chaotic gull was recovered conscionable underneath a enactment of caged foxes.

Kristo Muurimaa of Oikeutta Eläimille said: "Finnish fur farms are a illness catastrophe waiting to happen. The cages are unfastened to the elements and there’s nary mode to reliably forestall avian influenza oregon different perchance unsafe viruses from spreading. We impulse the Finnish Government to travel the way of 21 different European countries and prohibition fur farming, supporting farmers wherever indispensable to unafraid a accelerated closure of this industry.”

Although fur farming has been banned successful the UK connected carnal payment grounds for implicit 20 years, this cruel and frivolous manner merchandise is inactive imported and sold here. HSI/UK estimates that the magnitude of fur imported into the UK implicit the 5 years 2019-2023 equates to astir 7 cardinal animals brutally killed.

HSI/UK leads the Fur Free Britain run for a prohibition connected the import and merchantability of fur, which has gathered implicit 1.2 cardinal petition signatures and enactment from a big of celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Stella and Sir Paul McCartney, Leona Lewis OBE, Alesha Dixon and Strictly Come Dancing’s Pete Wicks.

In October 2024, Labour MP Ruth Jones introduced a Private Member’s Bill to prohibit the import and merchantability of fur; HSI/UK welcomed the tabling of this draught instrumentality arsenic a important measurement guardant . The Bill proposes to widen existing bans connected commercialized successful fur from cats, dogs and seals to see foxes, raccoon dogs, mink, chinchilla, coyotes and different animals killed for fur fashion, and forestall the import and merchantability of caller carnal fur from each species. If passed into law, the prohibition would extremity the UK’s complicity successful the cruelty and nationalist wellness hazard of the planetary fur trade.

Sonul Badiani-Hamment, FOUR PAWS UK Country Director added: “Nothing abbreviated of a paradigm displacement is needed successful however humankind treats animals successful the aboriginal if we are to forestall the adjacent pandemic. Given the sedate risks of illness outbreaks and the standard of carnal suffering, we indispensable prohibition the import and merchantability of fur successful the UK and region our publication to the cruel planetary fur commercialized and the associated risks to quality wellness and animals.”

The International Fur Trade Federation was contacted for comment.