Fur Ban: Should It Be Supported or Not?

We all love to wear those soft clothes made of or decorated with fur. They are not only comfortable to wear but also add trendiness to our winter clothing. In most cases, those fur products are made of farmed rabbit, mink, fox fur.

Wearing fur keeps us warm, cozy and healthy when the weather is all set to freeze us to an iceberg.

Using fur for making garments does not essentially involve hurting animals. Rather, the professional fur farms, today, employ such measures that comply with animal’s wellbeing without any negative effect on fur production.

These farms are localized places nurturing the animals in a friendly environment. Popular animals farmed this way include raccoons, mink, beaver, rabbits, fox, chinchilla, and many others.

Then why do we keep hearing chants regarding fur ban? Let’s take a look!

Global Fur Farming Legislations and Fur Ban

Fur farming is mainly popular in the European region having around 5000 farms in 22 countries, predominantly in the Netherlands, Russia, and Denmark. Collectively, Europe contributes 50% of the total fur produced globally. Whereas, China and the United States are the other major fur producers. China also makes bulk imports of pelts as well to export finished fur goods.

Although, fur trade continues to thrive as a business shaping up a popular fashion trend owing to the public demand and need for warm fur clothing. However, the malpractices associated with fur farming and production raised serious humanitarian concerns. Moreover, there was also a concern that the fur producers are focusing more on money-making strategies whilst paying no heed to animal welfare.

Considering these problems, the animal rights and environmental protection organizations demanded a ban on fur. Today, numerous countries have started banning or have banned the production and use of animal fur. Whereas many others are on the way to implement this ban.

Fur Ban In USA

The United States is one of the major fur producers and importers of fur products. Yet, considering the inhumane practices and growing pressure to ban fur, several states of the US have implemented strict bans. For instance, the state of California emerged took the very first initiative to ban fur trapping. Whereas in 2017, Berkeley city of the state also banned sales of fur from fur-bearing animals. The other locations following similar legislative include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and West Hollywood.

Fur Ban Worldwide

Alongside the USA, Europe and other regions of the world are also increasingly banning fur sales or farming/production, or both. For instance, the United Kingdom banned fur farming back in 2000, whereas, Australia banned it in 2004. Likewise, the Netherlands, a major mink-fur producer, banned it in 2012, following a gradual phase-out of production by 2024.

The other regions banning fur farming include Norway (2018), Germany (2019), Slovenia (2013), Croatia (2018), Czech Republic (2017), Macedonia (2014), Luxembourg (2018), Belgium (2023), Serbia (2019), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2029). Whereas, Ireland, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, and Lithuania are crafting legislations in this regard. Besides, Denmark and Hungary have also put a partial ban on fur farming.

Moreover, Japan, Sweden, and New Zealand have also banned fur farming. While the countries banning fur trade include India and Brazil (Sao Paolo).

In addition, countries like Italy and Switzerland have developed very strict legislations with regards to fur farming. Eventually, fur farming became practically non-existent in these countries.

The Rise Of Fur Ban And The Evolution Of Present-Day Fur Farming

The debate of fur ban has been going on in many parts of the world – particularly, in the US, the UK, and European regions, where winters last most of the year. The people in these countries need to wear fur clothes to keep themselves warm during the chilly weather. Consequently, we witnessed a rise in fur farming in these regions.

Yet, the exhaustive use of fur products raised concerns with respect to animal safety. It is because some fur farming companies adopted a predominantly brutal approach towards animals to get fur. For instance, some farms kept the animals in cages so as to accommodate their large numbers in small places. That is why the animal rights protection organizations and like-minded people urged banning the use of fur.

However, considering the importance of fur clothing in our lives, it doesn’t seem a viable option to ban fur altogether. Nor would the fur farming companies abandon the idea. Plus, the slow fashion industry would also be threatened with this decision.

Therefore, a viable strategy was to take care of animal welfare alongside catering to the needs of humans. It required addressing all the malpractices that somehow got introduced in fur farming.

Eventually, through various legislative and awareness programs, the staff at most fur farms changed the way of dealing with animals while harvesting fur. Fortunately, there now are fur farms like us who make sure that our animals survive in the best living conditions. In turn, this also helps us produce high-quality fur to serve our customers.

Factors Triggering Fur Ban

Earlier, animal trapping was a prominent means of getting fur. However, today, fur farming has taken over this practice, contributing a major component of the fur trade. Nonetheless, farming animals for fur requires compliance with corresponding laws and ensuring the humane treatment to animals.

Here we list some of the factors that triggered anti-fur movements and how the fur farms dealt with these issues.

Cruel Animal Treatment

The main problem at fur farms was the cruel behavior of the farm staff towards the animals. For instance, subjecting animals to painful euthanizing procedures such as neck-breaking to poor electrocution.

Nonetheless, thanks to the robust legislative that the fur farms have developed humane methods of euthanizing animals. For example, the farms in the United States and Canada employ euthanizing via bottled carbon monoxide gas which ensures a quick death. Or, they also use swift electrocution procedures in specially designed units that assure painless death.   

Poor Animal Welfare

Apart from the cruel practices that involved animal killing, poor breeding conditions for animals was also a matter of great concern. Those naturally free-living animals were subjected to unnatural living conditions in closed environments. Hence, they used to suffer from various psychological and health issues.

However, today, the professional fur farms, such as the ones in North America, employ humane approaches to deal with animals. For instance, the furbearers are nurtured in their natural living environments where they are free to stroll or mate. Moreover, they also enjoy constant access to food and water and are safe from predators.

Fur Market In 2019

According to the North America Fur Auction, the fur market looks quite lucrative this year. In February 2019 auction, people witnessed a surge in competitiveness in the fur market, where China, Hong Kong, and Italy vied for coyote fur. The strong competition and effective sales of animal fur depicted the persistent trendiness of fur in the fashion industry.

Reportedly, in the fur auction, even coyote was sold for $210 on average. The average Western heavy coyote got sold for $104, whereas the semis averaged $60. Eastern coyotes also witnessed an increase in price while being sold for $54 an average. 

Besides coyotes, muskrats, wolverines, bears and other animals were also sold a 100% to 72%. This clearly shows how profitable and competitive this niche remains despite all the anti-fur movements and bans. These competitive sales still continue in a realm adopting fake and faux fur.

Conclusion

Amidst the growing calls for banning the production and the use of animal fur, the customers remain confused as to which side to choose.

For those of us living in much colder areas of the world, wearing animal fur isn’t a luxury, but a necessity. The warmth and comfort it offers to the wearer during extremely cold weather is a must to smoothly continue the routine chores.

Moreover, buying fur is also economical in the long run owing to its sustainability and resistance to wear-and-tear even after constant use.

In addition, fur also constitutes an important part of fashion trends, both for men and women. Since it never goes outdated, one can easily pass on even a small fur garment like a hat or collar to the next generation without compromising aesthetics and fashion trends.

Thus, abandoning fur in its entirety isn’t a great idea.

Considering the usual lucrativeness of fur trade, banning fur farming, production and sales won’t be welcomed by the business community too.

For those looking forward to wearing animal fur and pelts over synthetic alternatives, fur farming under strict legislation will surely help. When the fur farms abide by all the directives and assure no inhumane treatment to the animals, they may continue to farm animals for fur.

What is your opinion on this topic? Let’s discuss in the comments!