Among those calling for a ban on Ireland’s cruel fur farming is a woman who camped for 8 days outside a London department store to get her hands on a £795 fur coat.
Fay Funnell made international headlines 40 years ago when she purchased the mink coat (reduced to £79.50) in a Debenhams sale, brought it outside, doused it in petrol and set it alight.
The spectacular protest - captured by the assembled media from ITN, Press Association and Reuters - went around the world, spotlighting the cruelty of fur farming and the suffering of the animals caged and killed.
“Queuing for 8 days was nothing compared to the suffering of the 150 or so mink that went into this coat,” she declared as the coat burned.
This week, Fay expressed support for an end to fur farming in Ireland. In a message to ICABS, she said: “I urge Ireland to adopt the enlightened and humane approach of other European countries and ban fur farming, I join the multitude astonished at how fur farms in Ireland have escaped a ban thus far, particularly since Veterinary Ireland and 80 per cent of the Irish public favour such a ban. The suffering of the 200,000 American mink is well documented and I fully support this latest move to end it.”
Asked about the lead-up to her 1979 protest, she outlined that it was “at a time when big stores like Debenham’s made fur coats the star attraction of their sales by offering them at 90 per cent discount, then dragging the press along to cover it!”
“The previous year it was a wolf fur coat and something had to be done!” she said. “My two daughters were very young at the time and I wasn’t working, so I borrowed the £79 from my sister.”
The powerful protest was covered by all the UK’s national newspapers and many of the provincials, and also appeared in publications around the world.
It attracted widespread praise and admiration from many, including Kojak TV icon, Telly Savalas, who had read about it in an animal activism article in Cosmopolitan magazine.
ACTION ALERT
The Fur Farming Prohibition Bill is due for debate in Dail Eireann on 3rd July with a vote the following day. Please contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Fine Gael party and urge them to back a ban.
Leo Varadkar TD
Department of the Taoiseach
Merrion Street, Dublin 2
Phone: +353 (0)1-6194000 OR +353 (0)1-6403133
Email: leo.varadkar@oir.ie, finegael@finegael.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leovaradkar
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar
Michael Creed TD
Minister for Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: michael.creed@oir.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelcreedtd
Tweet to: @creedcnw
Email “Please vote in favour of a ban on 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
Contact Fine Gael TDs individually. Find names, constituencies and contact details at https://www.finegael.ie/our-people/tds/
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