Clothing/Cosmetics and Animal Abuse Article from All-Creatures.org

It's time for Canada to end fur farming

From TheFurBearers.com
October 2024

If the federal government is serious about protecting the health of Canadians, the environment, and animal welfare, it needs to act and end the practice of farming animals for their fur.

An aerial view of a Nova Scotia fur farm, photo by We Animals

If the federal government is serious about protecting the health of Canadians, the environment, and animal welfare, it needs to act and end the practice of farming animals for their fur. Today, The Fur-Bearers is launching a campaign to end fur farming in Canada.

Fur farming is a public health risk

“Personally, I think the fur farming industry globally should be closed down . . . I strongly believe that the wildlife trade was responsible for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and I think that the related fur farming trade could easily result in another pandemic virus.”

This quote from virologist Edward Holmes is a blunt assessment of the risks that fur farms pose to humans. Holmes was part of a recent study, published in Nature in September 2024, that found a large amount of high-risk viruses in animals farmed for their fur, including 39 viruses that can be transmitted across species.

The intensive breeding and confinement of fur-bearing animals, like what happens on Canadian fur farms, heightens the risk of zoonotic disease transmission due to the increased and sustained contact between humans and fur-bearing animals. British Columbia recognized the public health danger of this practice and banned mink farming in 2021. The province joined the numerous countries that banned fur farming over the course of the pandemic, after hundreds of infectious disease outbreaks occurred on fur farms around the world.

Fur farming causes pain and suffering to animals

Beyond the public health risks, the individual animals bred and kept captive on fur farms experience severe pain and suffering due to their extreme confinement and inhumane slaughter methods like anal electrocution. Animals farmed for their fur are wild animal species who are unable to engage in the natural behaviours they would otherwise enjoy in their own habitats, leading to adverse physical and psychological conditions. Wolves, bobcats, foxes, chinchillas, lynx, and minks are species known to be farmed for their fur in Canada.

In a systematic review article published in October 2023 in the journal Frontiers in Animal Science, researchers reviewed dozens of papers on fur farming and identified 16 categories of animal welfare issues. These include environmental deprivation, inability to perform normal behaviours, social deprivation, abnormal and stereotypic behaviours, exposure to insanitary and bio-insecure conditions, morbidity, physical mistreatment and abuse, and inhumane killing methods.

Based on their review of the existing literature, the authors offer a firm recommendation to address the animal welfare issues on fur farms: “Complete prohibition of fur farming is required in order to resolve inherent animal welfare problems.”

Fur farming pollutes the environment

In the same review article referenced above, researchers identify four primary environmental concerns with fur farming: greenhouse gas emissions, invasive alien species, toxic chemicals, and eutrophication.

The literature reviewed includes research from Canada, which has identified eutrophication in bodies of water in Nova Scotia that is linked to intensive mink farming operations in the region. There is an active research project from the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory in Queen’s University that is currently examining the environmental impacts of mink farming in Nova Scotia.

Well-established need for a national prohibition on fur farming

From animal suffering to public health risks, the evidence to support an end to fur farming is extensive. The Fur-Bearers is launching a federal campaign to end fur farming in Canada: to protect animals, people, and the environment. The practice is already prohibited in over twenty countries and British Columbia became the first province in Canada to ban mink farming. It’s time for Canada to join the international community and outlaw the practice.

We’ve created a website that has everything you need to learn about fur farming and how to take action to end it. Visit furfarming.ca and become part of the movement to end fur farming in Canada.

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: October 17, 2024
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