The Norwegian Government has committed to totally phasing out the farming of fur across the country by 2024 as part of its new manifesto.
The pledge by Norway’s newly-formed coalition government will see a ban on all fur farming, including those of foxes and mink.
According to Humane Society International UK, nearly one million foxes and mink are intensively bred and killed for their fur on Norway’s 340 fur farms each year, making it Europe’s second highest producer of fox fur after Finland.
The ban will now be voted on in Parliament, with the majority of Norway’s political parties expected to support it. Fur farming bans have been introduced in countries including Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, and the UK, with bans now being considered in Belgium and Luxembourg. Germany, Sweden and Switzerland all have regulations requiring such high welfare standards that they effectively make it impossible to continue to farm animals for fur.
The announcement has been welcomed by Humane Society International, which campaigns globally to end the fur trade. The pledge was also celebrated by Norwegian animal rights group NOAH, which has long fought for a fur farming ban in Norway.
“We are thrilled to see such an unequivocal pledge from the Norwegian government to ban all fur farming, and look forward to seeing this important decision receiving the political backing it deserves,” says Ruud Tombrock, executive director of Humane Society International/EU. “We also hope that Norway’s fur farmers will decide to dismantle their businesses before the phase out deadline of 2024.
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By GlobalData“Factory farming wild animals for fur in appallingly deprived conditions is unconscionably cruel, so to see a ban on this dreadful trade in a Scandinavian country is truly historic. It will spare nearly one million mink and fox a year from miserable lives in small wire cages, ending in horrible deaths. Consumers are turning their backs on the bloody fur trade, and it is only right that Norway’s politicians enable Norway to join the fast-growing list of compassionate nations refusing to allow cruel fur farming within their borders.”
