The Romanian Senate has voted in favour of a bill providing for a ban on chinchilla and mink fur farming.
This was preceded by an investigation by Humane Society International/Europe, which had uncovered shocking suffering on the fur farms of the country.
Broad support in parliament
Andreea Roseti, HSI/Europe’s Romania country director, welcomed the vote with the words: «The broad cross-party support for this bill in the Senate is a clear sign of the Romanian parliament’s willingness to put an end to the cruel practice of breeding and killing animals for fur.
HSI/Europe welcomes the swift legislative passage of this bill and hopes that the Chamber of Deputies will act decisively in the coming months, so that Romania becomes the 20th European country to ban fur farming. The European continent can be seen as a pioneer in ending the suffering of animals for fur fashion, a practice that is rejected by consumers, designers, retailers and policymakers around the world.»
The bill was initiated in October of this year, presented to the standing committee of the Chamber of Deputies on 7 November, and submitted and registered in the Senate on the same day.
Chinchillas and mink: cruel keeping conditions
Chinchillas and mink are the only fur species intensively bred in fur factories in Romania. If successful, the ban would therefore mean the end of fur farming in the country. In September of this year, HSI/Europe revealed the findings of its investigation into several Romanian chinchilla fur farms, documenting serious animal welfare deficiencies : the animals are kept in small wire mesh cages, and the females are forced into an almost uninterrupted breeding cycle in complete disregard of the natural behaviour of this species.
Growing support for an EU-wide ban
The vote in Romania comes at a time when support for an EU-wide ban on fur farming and imports is growing across Europe. The European Citizens' Initiative «Fur Free Europe», launched in May and supported by more than 70 organisations, has already collected more than 1.1 million signatures from EU citizens.
Facts about fur:
- Every year, more than 100 million animals are killed worldwide for their fur – that is equivalent to three animals dying every second for their pelts alone.
- Fur farming has been banned in 19 European countries, including Malta, Ireland, Estonia, France, Italy, and most recently Latvia on 22 September 2022. Political discussions about a ban are also underway in Lithuania, Spain and Poland. Two further countries (Switzerland, Germany) have introduced regulations so strict that fur farming has effectively ceased, and three more countries (Denmark, Sweden, Hungary) have taken measures that have ended the farming of certain species.
- In Denmark, only 1% of fur farmers have applied for state aid to resume operations if the temporary ban on fur farming is lifted after December 2022. Mink farming is also being phased out in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to ban fur farming in 2003.
- Since April 2020, COVID-19 outbreaks have been documented on more than 480 mink farms in 12 different countries across Europe and North America. Fur also carries a high ecological cost: the CO2 emissions from the intensive keeping of carnivorous animals, the discharge of manure into lakes and rivers, and the cocktail of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals such as chromium and formaldehyde used to preserve fur and hide in order to prevent decomposition.
- An increasing number of fashion designers and retailers are turning away from the cruel use of fur. In recent years alone, Canada Goose, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Gucci, Burberry, Versace, Chanel, Prada and other renowned brands have announced that they will go fur-free.
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