ADI Animal Defenders International
September 2017
At less than seven months of age, Boris and then Eryk are dragged from their cage. They have seen other foxes being killed outside their cage and there is nowhere to hide...
A fox in a Polish fur farm...
"A LIFETIME” is a new film about the brutal short lives of two foxes,
brothers Borys and Eryk, born and killed on a Polish fur farm. Animal
Defenders International (ADI) placed hidden cameras on the farm to capture
this rare insight into an industry that kills more than 100 million animals
a year.
Three arctic foxes are followed from birth on the Polish fur farm – ADI
named them Borys, Eryk and Aleska. We see them nursed by their mother and
Aleska taking her first halting steps as a tiny cub. Their world is a small
wire cage. After a few weeks their mother is removed and we see the growing
cubs explore their world and play together. As their coats change to the
thick white fur that would protect them through the winter months, their
days are numbered; their fur is a prized product.
Watch A LIFETIME on youtube.
At less than seven months of age, Boris and then Eryk are dragged from their cage. They have seen other foxes being killed outside their cage and there is nowhere to hide; desperate to avoid their fate, Borys, Eryk and Aleska try to run from the farmer. A terrified Aleska watches as her brothers are pulled from the cage by their tails, one at a time, hung up by a back leg, electrocuted and their bodies thrown on a cart to be skinned. Aleska is spared; she will breed next year’s foxes, her babies will be taken away from her and killed like her brothers.
This is the real cost of fur – when you buy fur, you buy cruelty.
Poland is the fourth largest producer of fox fur in the world – almost all is exported, with the United States being one of the biggest importers. ADI’s previous investigations of fur farms in Finland, the world’s largest producer of fox fur, have shown similar suffering and cruel deaths.
A fox in a Polish fur farm...
The ADI
team has also filmed inside farms in the United States and UK; although the
UK has banned fur farming, it remains a major dealer, importing and
exporting fur.
ADI’s findings reveal a cruel industry built on an image of beauty and
luxury, desperately hiding the suffering of sensitive, intelligent, animals
being farmed in filthy, intensive factory conditions or trapped for their
fur.
Worldwide every year over 110 million animals are killed on fur farms, with
more than 16 million trapped in the wild for their fur. Over 15 million
foxes are killed in a year, usually for trinkets, trims and accessories but
up to 35 foxes can be used to make a fur coat.
Recently, products being sold as “fake” have been found to be real fur –
perhaps unsurprising that an industry that treats animals as they do, would
lie about it to fool the public into buying their cruel products.
A fox in a Polish fur farm...
Naturally shy and secretive animals, in the wild foxes have large
territories, live in dens below ground in open country and eat a wide range
of foods. Arctic foxes like Borys, Eryk and Aleska are nomadic, travelling
many miles each day over the ice, enjoying the existence for which they
evolved.
On the Polish farm ADI documented foxes with bent feet and overgrown claws,
the result of a lifetime stood on a floor of wire mesh; individuals who
suffered tail loss, caused by chewing due to stress; an animal with a
weeping eye, swollen with pus, that was left untreated; young foxes
attempting to play but restricted by the confines of their cage; animals
chewing and pawing at their cages in a desire escape and to express
themselves in their natural digging behaviors.
This is the real cost of fur – when you buy fur, you buy cruelty.
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