Great News! Ireland's largest opposition political party, Fianna Fail, has decided to support the proposed Bill to ban fur farming, due to be voted on in the Dail (Ireland's parliament) on July 4th. Already Labour, the Greens, Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats and Independents for Change have declared their backing for the Bill.
The Dail arithmetic means that the Government faces defeat if it refuses to back the Bill because a clear majority of TDs now favour the abolition of fur farming.
Fur farming is way past its sell-by date. Mink are semi aquatic animals and in their natural habitat spend most of their short lives in the proximity of waterways. Their partially webbed feet facilitate copious swimming and diving in rivers and lakes.
When farmed, the mink are deprived of this freedom of movement in the wild open countryside that is their birthright. Instead they find themselves confined in small wire cages piled side by side and on top of each other. In these cramped, unnatural conditions the welfare of the animals is severely compromised:
They engage in self mutilation and aggressive chewing of their own fur, and a high percentage of them experience a frenzied need to break free from captivity.
After six months of this hell on earth, the mink are gassed to death with Carbon Monoxide and stripped of their fur. More than 200,000 face this horrific ordeal every year.
A ban on fur farming was part of a Programme for Government between Fianna Fail and the Green Party in 2009, but that government fell before the legislation could be enacted, and the incoming Fine Gael-Labour coalition allowed fur farming to continue.
Several EU nations have already outlawed the practice, including Britain, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Norway.
The passing of the Solidarity Bill, or an equivalent initiative from the government; would bring long overdue relief to Ireland’s captive mink population. Mink coats, severed tails, and fancy fur trimmings may tantalize, but the cost to the animals is just too high.
Cruelty should never be in fashion!