Since the Daily Mirror launched the Fur Free Britain campaign three years ago we have revealed horrific cases of suffering worldwide.
The Fur Industry responded by saying “there will be individual cases where animals become ill or injured” and insisted that they do not condone abuse.
They also offered to take me to a fur farm. But when the invite never turned up, I went to see the conditions for myself at three farms in Finland.
I’ll never forget those faces – animals who have spent their entire miserable and tormented lives trapped in a tiny, barren cage to be later turned into a frivolous fashion item.
Rather than being a one off - I was faced with row after row of unspeakable suffering. The industry also has claimed that fur is ‘the most environmentally friendly material available’.
But a new report led by Humane Society International/UK has found fur also has dire consequences for the environment. For a start, mink, fox and raccoon dogs on fur farms eat huge quantities of meat like chicken and fish offal.
You need 563 kilos of meat feed to produce just one kilo of fur. Fur farmed animals also create huge amounts of environmentally harmful waste, producing damaging substances like nitrous oxide, ammonia and phosphorus that can pollute the air and waterways.
In factories, fur pelts need to be treated to stop them rotting. Huge quantities of salt are used to dry the pelts, while chemicals are used to process and dye them. Formaldehyde and chromium are known to be toxic and carcinogenic.
Production also uses vast quantities of water. To produce 1 kilogram of fur uses 29,000 litres of water, equivalent to around 360 bathtubs.
Contrary to what the fur trade wants shoppers to believe, fur is not natural and comes with a hefty environmental price tag. The report says the production of real fur has a carbon footprint roughly 20 times larger than other materials, including polyester, acrylic and cotton.
If we stopped farming foxes, mink and raccoon dogs for fur in Europe we would save 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and 11,800 tonnes of air emissions. Let’s make Britain fur free to end the nightmare of these poor creatures.
Add your signature to petition.parliament.uk/petitions/630751 to help extend legislation to ban the import and sale of fur from all species.
