The UK Government can’t close fur farms overseas, but it can stop the marketing by banning fur sales. Such a ban would send a clear message that we won’t be trading in animal cruelty.
KATIE HARRIS: Animals are kept in filthy conditions, electrocuted and skinned in front of their terrified cage mates at fur farms in China, according to an investigation by a charity. The horror scenes have been uncovered by Humane Society International (HSI) in an investigation of 13 Chinese fur farms between November and December 2020.
Shocking pictures and videos show mink, raccoon dogs and foxes crammed in rows of tiny wire cages. Raccoon dogs can be seen dying slow and agonising deaths after being electrocuted. Stressed foxes repeatedly pace and spin around their barren cages. Animals are even skinned in front of their cage mates, with carcasses dumped in piles.
HSI claims the investigation found multiple breaches of Chinese fur farming regulations on animal housing, welfare, slaughter and epidemic control – which campaigners have reported to authorities… The charity claims basic biosecurity measures were not being followed despite the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen outbreaks at fur farms. One farmer admitted that meat from animals slaughtered for fur was being sold to local restaurants for human consumption, according to HSI…
Professor Alastair MacMillan, HSI’s veterinary adviser, added: “The animals in this video are being subjected to violent and chaotic electrocution in the body and not in the brain, which means they are highly likely to have experienced several minutes of extreme physical pain and suffering, like heart attack symptoms. “Instead of instant death, they are likely to have been immobilised by the electric shocks but remain conscious and feel the intense pain of electrocution”…
Claire Bass, executive director of HSI UK, said: “This is the sickening reality of life and death for animals on fur farms, a million miles from the glamorous image the fur trade tries to portray. “It is heartbreaking to know that the first and only time these raccoon dogs see the world outside of their cage is the moment they are wrenched from it with the agony of a high voltage electric shock paralysing their bodies”… “The UK imports millions of pounds worth of fur from China as well as many other countries, and there is absolutely nothing to stop fur from farms just like those we filmed at from being sold in UK shops and web-stores”…
Ms Bass said: “Although this investigation took place in China, similarly distressing scenes of mentally ill animals being kept in small, barren, factory-farm style cages can also be seen in fur farms across Europe and North America”… “Factory farming animals for fur inherently results in appalling suffering and an unacceptable public health risk”. “The UK Government can’t close fur farms overseas, of course, but it can stop the UK providing a market for fur, so we welcome signs that the Government is serious about banning fur sales”. “Such a ban would send a clear message that we won’t be trading in animal cruelty for the sake of frivolous, outdated and unnecessary fashion accessories”…
The investigation is part of HSI’s #FurFreeBritain campaign which is calling for a ban in the UK on the sale of imported fur. Fur farming has been banned in England and Wales since 2000 and in Scotland and Northern Ireland since 2002. But in 2019 the UK imported £55,928,562 of fur from other countries, including £5.3 million from China which is the world’s largest fur exporter….A YouGov poll of 1,682 British adults in March 2020 found 93 percent refuse to wear fur and 72 percent support a sales ban. SOURCE…
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