England: 1 Million Signatures for a Fur Sales Ban
One million signatures demand a fur sales ban in Great Britain. Animal welfare organisations hand petition to Downing Street.
Queen guitarist Brian May says Great Britain should close its borders to the cruel, outdated, unnecessary and dangerous fur trade.
One Million Voices Against Fur
CEOs and directors of five of the largest animal welfare organisations in Great Britain gathered on 20.4.2021 with activists wearing geometric fox masks outside the gates of 10 Downing Street to present the Prime Minister with 1 million petition signatures and urge the United Kingdom to ban the sale of cruel animal fur.
Almost twenty years ago, fur farming was banned in this country. We took on a great leadership role in animal welfare then and continue to do so today, and we have the opportunity to lead the world in terms of morality and standards by closing our borders to the cruel, outdated, unnecessary and dangerous fur trade. I urge you, Prime Minister, to act decisively now and make Great Britain fur-free!
Queen guitarist Brian May, in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson
The #FurFreeBritain petition comes the day before a Ten-Minute Rule Bill proposing a fur sales ban in the House of Commons. Prominent supporter Chris Packham joined the petition virtually with a video message expressing his support for a ban on fur sales in Great Britain.
Double Standards on Fur Imports
Fur farming was banned in Great Britain almost two decades ago in 2003 because it was considered too cruel to support. But since then, Great Britain has imported more than £800 million worth of fur from countries such as Finland, China, France and Poland, where animals on fur farms experience terrible suffering and psychological distress. This is a double standard that must end – if fur is too cruel to be produced in this country, it is also too cruel to be sold in this country.
The 1 million signatures from supporters around the world were presented to Prime Minister Boris Johnson along with a letter from Brian May.
Fur farming is rightly banned here, but we are still importing the same cruelty from overseas. The government has the opportunity to end this double standard, and our petition today with millions of signatures shows that a ban on the fur trade is enormously supported by the public. The British public, as well as politicians, designers, celebrities and retailers agree that the confinement and killing of animals for fashion does not reflect the brand of Great Britain. The future of fashion is fur-free.
Claire Bass, Executive Director of Humane Society International / UK
Political support is growing
Last autumn, Defra Minister Lord Goldsmith stated: “Fur farming has rightly been banned in this country for almost 20 years, and at the end of the transition period we can appropriately consider steps to further raise our standards. The government is very interested in doing so.” The campaign also received cross-party political support from 140 MPs who signed the Early Day Motion 267 against real fur imports.
Fur facts
To date, a total of 1,065,247 signatures have been added to the Fur Free Britain petition. More than 100 million animals are killed for their fur worldwide every year, including minks, foxes, raccoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits – that is equivalent to three animals dying every second, just for their fur.
Fur farming has been banned throughout the United Kingdom since 2003 and is also banned or currently being phased out in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Most recently, the Hungarian government declared a ban on the breeding of fur animals including mink and foxes, the French government is currently debating a ban on mink fur farming, and the Irish government has committed to advancing legislation in 2021.
Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland and Ukraine are also currently considering bans on fur farming, and in Finland the majority party of the coalition government has announced its support for a ban on fur farms.
In the United States, California became the first state to ban the sale of fur in 2019, following similar bans in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood. It has also been found that mink are infected with COVID-19 on more than 420 mink farms in 12 countries, leading to mass deaths. The potential for the spread of zoonotic diseases and in particular for mink fur farms to serve as a reservoir for coronaviruses is a further compelling reason for governments around the world to ban the fur trade .
