Real fur: Campaign demands fur import ban in Switzerland

Thousands of supporters are calling online, together with the global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS, as part of the campaign «Real Fur – Really Bad for Your Image», for clothing companies to exit the fur trade and for the Swiss Parliament to introduce a ban on fur imports.

For this reason, FOUR PAWS organized an action, with the support of the Zurich Animal Protection Society, to give added weight to these demands.

Every year, 100 million fur animals die in agony for the fur fashion industry. Symbolically, 1,000 flags flew yesterday on the grounds of the Zurich Animal Protection Society's animal shelter – each individual flag representing 100,000 of these fur animals. Around 95 million wild animals such as minks, foxes, raccoon dogs, rabbits and other species are bred and killed to end up as jackets, collars, hoods or other accessories. In addition to the animals bred on farms, approximately 5 million wild-living foxes, lynxes and coyotes are caught each year in traps during hunting.

This joint action is intended to give greater emphasis to the demand for an end to fur sales.

The action is a wake-up call to all those still caught up in the fur trade, because real fur is neither contemporary nor ethically justifiable.

Nadja Brodmann, Member of the Executive Board of the Zurich Animal Protection Society

Real Fur – Really Bad for Your Image

This slogan is directed not only at fashion companies, as they are only one part of the entire fur industry.The slogan is also directed at consumers who, through their purchases, support the suffering of fur animals, as well as at foreign fur farms that keep animals in cramped wire cages and kill them solely for their pelts.

The VIER PFOTEN countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland have targeted several fashion companies in a joint campaign. The internationally operating fashion company Madeleine was the primary target. After just four months of campaign work, Madeleine announced that it would forgo real fur in the future. A sustainable decision that other fur-selling companies can take as an example. Since its founding, VIER PFOTEN has dedicated itself to the issue of real fur and, through its campaigns, has already contributed to a fur phase-out at many national and international fashion companies (including Burberry and Charles Vögele) and has accompanied them in an advisory capacity. Fashion Stylers, the national target of the ongoing campaign by VIER PFOTEN Switzerland, was pleasingly open this week to a conversation about a possible fur phase-out.

Motion for a ban on fur imports

There are no longer any fur farms in Switzerland; however, fur products produced through animal cruelty are still imported in large numbers. National Councillor Matthias Aebischer has submitted a motion in parliament for a ban on fur products produced through animal cruelty. With their action, VIER PFOTEN and the Zurich Animal Protection Association also wish to call on politicians to vote in favor of a fur import ban, because real fur is also bad for Switzerland’s image. 

Dominik del Castillo, Campaigner at VIER PFOTEN Switzerland

COVID-19 transmissions / ban on fur farms

The risk of COVID-19 transmissions has been covered in all media since last autumn.Millions of minks on more than 400 fur farms in the EU have been infected with the virus.To protect human health, all 20 million minks were culled. The Netherlands responded to this new threat of possible COVID-19 transmissions by moving the closure of mink farms forward from 2024 to 1 March 2021. Other countries have suspended mink production until at least the end of 2021. However, this is not enough to combat COVID-19 and prevent pandemics in the future. Further sustainable solutions are needed for this, such as a ban on all fur farms.

A cooperation with an equally highly experienced partner

The Zurich Animal Protection organization also successfully advocates against real fur and has in the past accompanied several companies in their exit from the fur trade. The organization achieved successes with Globus, Jelmoli, PKZ and most recently with the fashion house Kofler. 

For more information on the fur industry, please visit here.

You can read the press release from Zurich Animal Protection here