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Vegan MP Kerry McCarthy says the sale of fur should be banned in the UK, due to the inhumane treatment of animals who are farmed for their skin.
Fur farming was banned in the UK in 2000, on animal welfare grounds. According to McCarthy, allowing the sale of fur which has been produced in the same way abroad is ‘fundamentally illogical and surely immoral’.
She added that the majority of countries that the UK buys fur from – including Russia China, Canada, and Bulgaria – have lower animal welfare standards.
Fiction
According to the Bristol MP: “The idea of ethical fur farming, even in countries which purport to be high-welfare, has been shown time and again to be a complete fiction.
“I have heard that a cruelty-free version of fur is on offer, but the fur trade is a cruel, ugly business, no matter how it is dressed up and marketed, and no matter how glamorous the end products or the people who might wear them are.”
Skinned alive
Speaking during a debate about fur at Westminster last week, the MP revealed some of the welfare breaches that have been recorded in various facilities.
She said: “Investigations have recorded incidents of cannibalism, infanticide and severe, untreated wounds. Instead of a so-called humane death, there are reports of animals being beaten and stamped to death, and of some even being skinned alive.
“The best condition animals on a fur farm can hope for is to be kept for their whole life in wire-floored cages, thousands of times smaller than their natural habitats.”
