“THIS IS CRUELTY”: Dr Mark Dalton of Veterinary Ireland speaking on RTE Radio 1 this week during which he called on the government to ban fur farming, saying “we in Ireland need to be on the right side of history.”
“Mink in [fur] farms do not have a life worth living in any way,” Dr Dalton told listeners. Referring to the Five Freedoms for Animals (freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress), he said that, due to the nature of mink, only “freedom from hunger and thirst” could possibly be met on a fur farm.
He went on to address the issue of permanently caging mink and keeping them in close proximity to each other: “In the wild, these are solitary animals and they are semi-aquatic animals. Typically they have a river boundary that is all theirs, up to 7 km long. If they meet, they fight. The only time they meet and don’t fight is when they meet to mate and then they separate again. They don’t like each other and we are putting them in farms right beside each other in tiny metal cages...Mink are not social animals.”
“I’m not here today to persuade the people of Ireland that fur farming should be banned because 80 per cent of them are already against it. There was a Red C poll that showed that. I am here to ask the Minister to please change his mind [and ban fur farming],” he added.
Also on the show was Fianna Fail Councillor, Norma Moriarity (Kerry County Council). She shamefully defended fur farming on the grounds of employment, saying “we have in the region of 13 full time jobs in the Kerry [fur farm]”
Asked about the cruelty of fur farming, Cllr Moriarity remarked: “I think it is also cruel if you take a job away from somebody who is providing for their household…”
Dr Mark Dalton argued that replacing fur farming with alternatives can lead to more job creation. He presented the example of a Scottish fur farm which was shut down following a ban and reopened as a fruit farm.
“The government put measures in place that allowed that business to turn itself into a strawberry farm, which is a very successful farm employing more people now than it did previously,” he said, pointing out that a lot of the labour on fur farms is “very, very seasonal” and tends to be “migratory workers”.
Responding, Cllr Moriarity said she “wouldn’t be banning anything until I knew [alternatives] were in place”.
Asked if she would wear a fur coat, she replied: “never have, never will”.
ACTION ALERT
Urge Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister Michael Creed to ban fur farming.
Email "Ban fur farming NOW" to Leo.Varadkar@oir.ie; michael.creed@oir.ie; taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1 6194000 (Leo Varadkar)
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510 (Michael Creed)
Tweet: @LeoVaradkar @creedcnw Ban fur farming NOW
Comment on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/campaignforleo/
https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Email "Please support a ban on cruel fur farming" to all Fine Gael TDs
maria.bailey@oireachtas.ie; sean.barrett@oireachtas.ie; pat.breen@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; catherine.byrne@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; corcorankennedy@eircom.net; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; michael.darcy@oireachtas.ie; Jim.Daly@oireachtas.ie; john.deasy@oireachtas.ie; Pat.Deering@oireachtas.ie; Regina.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; frances.fitzgerald@oir.ie; peterm.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; enda.kenny@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Kyne@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; Tony.McLoughlin@oireachtas.ie; Mary.MitchellOConnor@oireachtas.ie; Dara.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; Eoghan.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; tom.neville@limerick.ie; michael.noonan@oireachtas.ie; kate.oconnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; noel@noelrock.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie
Please contact all your local TDs and urge them to support Solidarity's bill. Contact details for TDs can be found at https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/32
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