EUROPE—Humane Society International/Europe is launching an online campaign in the week before Black Friday, 26 November, in Italy, Germany, Poland and Romania, reminding shoppers that fur clothing comes at the cost of extreme cruelty to animals. The organization is asking fashion lovers, designers, retailers and influencers to go fur-free since fashion shouldn’t come at the cost of animal life.
Black Friday, the popular shopping pinnacle, is also an occasion for animal welfare organizations and animal lovers worldwide to draw public attention to the plight of animals kept in farms only for their fur. The Fur-Free Friday movement, which started in the U.S. in the 1980s and went global in the first decade of the 21st century, is now one of the largest international days of action and brings together advocates in hundreds of locations around the world.
“Our Fur-Free Friday campaign aims to bring attention to our daily choices, since cruelty towards animals is often a direct consequence of the choices we make. Small cages, scandalous living conditions, and the cruel death of animals who feel pain, fear, frustration– all this is due to the fashion industry’s demand for animal fur. It’s time to change that. Don’t let this holiday shopping season be deadly for animals. Show designers and retailers you care about animals by leaving fur on the shelves and shopping with compassion instead,” says Pankaj KC, campaigns director for HSI/Europe.
Fur-Free Friday also coincides with the period of the year when the short and miserable lives of millions of animals kept on fur farms will end as they are skinned for their fur. Mink are usually killed by being placed in a mobile gas chamber, while foxes and raccoon dogs are usually killed by anal electrocution. The only animals who will be left alive on fur farms are those individuals who have been selected as breeding stock.
Worldwide, around 100 million animals, such as mink, foxes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas, are slaughtered each year for fashion. More than a third of these animals are bred and killed in farms around Europe. Although fur coats are going out of fashion in Europe, real fur trim is increasingly being used for hooded jackets, hat pompoms, gloves, shoes and other clothing and accessories. It’s estimated that as many as half of all animals raised for their fur are killed for fur trim.
Public discontent with the cruel practices in fur farms has prompted the governments of 15 European countries to impose a ban on farms where animals are kept only for their fur. The spread of COVID-19 and the discovered link between the virus and mink have also led to bans in countries where the industry is prevalent. Just last week the Senate in France approved a full ban on keeping wild animals in fur farms.
