Let’s put an end to fur in the EU with the Fur Free Europe ECI

Together with dozens of European organisations, including those affiliated with Eurogroup for Animals, today we are launching a campaign to put an end to fur throughout the EU.

Fur Free Europe is a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) that calls on the EU to:

●  Ban fur farms

●  Ban the import and trade of farmed fur

This is not a mere petition: if we reach 1 million signatures, the European Commission will be obliged to respond and act on our demands! The production of fur is cruel, no matter where it takes place, which is why we are calling for Europe to also implement a ban on the trade of fur.

Why do we want to put an end to fur farms?

There are many reasons for this. First of all, these are places in which wild animals such as foxes and minks are completely unable to satisfy their complex ethological needs. The animals spend their entire lives confined in small cages and even in the case of domesticated species, such as rabbits and chinchilla, killing them because their fur is valuable is completely unacceptable.

In addition, as we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, these farms pose a risk to human health as well as animal health. Raising animals intensively involves the risk of spreading zoonotic diseases, even more so if wild animals such as foxes and mink are involved.

From an environmental point of view, rearing animals for fur production poses a particular threat to biodiversity. The American mink, escaped from farms, is now widespread in the European Union and is having negative effects on the native fauna. The processing of the skins also uses toxic chemicals, so much so that it is regarded as one of the five most impactful industries from the point of view of metal pollution in the soil.

This is the right time

There are five key factors in our favour:

●  The fur industry is facing a severe economic and animal health crisis due to COVID-19.

●  Twelve European countries, including Italy, have recently asked the European Commission to study options for a permanent ban on fur production and to submit a legislative proposal to this effect.

●  The European Commission is currently reviewing the animal protection legislation. This review presents an opportunity to introduce a ban on both the production and trade of fur.

●  Hundreds of fashion brands and designers have chosen to stop using fur, in line with consumer demands.

●      Fur farming is already banned, or regulated so severely that it is not actually feasible, in as many as 14 European countries.

Help us to stop fur in Europe

Fur farming in the EU must become a bad memory of the past: help us to collect 1 million signatures!