There will be increased pressure on the Irish Government to ban fur farming, following an announcement by yet another EU nation that it is to bring the cruel practice to an end. The Flemish Government in Belgium has just approved a decree that will make fur farming illegal from 1st December 2023. The widely welcomed move - initiated by Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare, Ben Weyts - means the 17 remaining fur farms in Belgium (compared to three in Ireland) will have to close down over a 5-year phase-out period. In that time, they will not be allowed to expand or move. Compensation will be offered but with the amount decreasing by a fixed percentage over the five years, there will be an incentive for the fur farms owners to close sooner rather than later. Annoucing the good news yesterday, Minister Weyts stated: "This is a huge step forward for Flanders. We say goodbye to a profitable industry because we as a community attach more value to animal welfare. We can be very proud of this as a community. Flanders once again takes the pioneering role in the field of animal welfare internationally." Belgium is the latest in a growing list of countries to ban fur farming. Last month, Luxembourg adopted a law that prohibits fur farming from this October. Norway, with over 200 fur farms, voted in January to outlaw fur farming by 2025. Last August, the Czech Republic announced a ban, beginning at the start of next year. In stark contrast here in Ireland, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has so far refused to ban fur farming. Responding to a Dail Question from Clare Daly this month, he maintained that there were "NO WELFARE ISSUES" for thousands of mink trapped in metal cages on a fur farm during the recent heatwave. His latest statement follows the surfacing of a Department of Agriculture report which farcically claimed that mink permanently confined in barren fur farm cages and denied their natural instincts to roam and swim "appear to be content and happy". The 2017 fur farm inspection report documents, obtained by the National Animal Rights Association via a Freedom of Information request, also claim that the thousands of animals caged and gassed to death with Carbon Monoxide are not stressed. Solidarity TDs Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Mick Barry have revealed that they will be presenting a Prohibition of Fur Farming Bill 2018 during the next Dail session. Please help bring fur farming to an end in Ireland - sign and share our petition and respond now to the action alert below. ACTION ALERT Please contact your TDs and urge them to support Solidarity's upcoming Prohibition of Fur Farming Bill 2018. Contact details for TDs can be found at https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32 Also get in touch with the political parties to urge them to back the bill - find contact details at http://www.banbloodsports.com/parties.htm Join us in urging Minister Michael Creed and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to put in place a long overdue ban on fur farming. Email "Ban fur farming NOW" to Leo.Varadkar@oir.ie, michael.creed@oir.ie, taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, AnimalHealthAndWelfareAct@agriculture.gov.ie Tel: +353 (0)1 6194000 (Leo Varadkar) Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510 (Michael Creed) Tweet: @campaignforleo @creedcnw Ban fur farming NOW Comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/ https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd VIDEOS ICABS footage - Victims of Ireland's cruel far farming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=artr7qwCLLk&index=2&list=PL43C1F00F38986C68 NARA footage showing caged mink in a fur farm in Donegal https://www.facebook.com/NARAcampaignsIRELAND/videos/1694193503937318/ Mink pulled from cages and thrown into gassing box https://youtu.be/m52k4aPXahU?t=3m6s