10/10/22 Dying slowly for 20 minutes in gas chambers over fur!
One more victory for victims of fashion: Latvia bans fur farming
- The horror is about to end – over 580,000 minks, foxes and chinchillas are farmed and killed in Latvia
Multiple animal protection groups joined in the Fur Free Alliance coalition, including Animal Friends Croatia, welcomed the news of Latvia’s ban on fur farming. With these latest developments, Latvia joins France, Italy, Estonia, Ireland, and dozens of other countries, including Croatia, all of which have already imposed the ban. The explanatory memorandum on the legislative ban states that farming and killing animals for fur is unethical, cruel, outdated, harmful to the environment, lacking in contribution to the national economy and without justification in today’s day and age. The ban will come into effect on January 1, 2028.
The Latvian Animal Protection Act prohibits inflicting pain and suffering on animals, or their killing, “without justification.” Until now, this provision was contravened at fur farms through breeding and killing practices that affected over 580,000 minks, foxes, and chinchillas. Members of the Latvian Parliament stressed that continuous animal suffering is an integral part of the breeding process as it fails to meet animals’ physiological and ethological needs. Animals cannot swim, dig, jump, or cross long distances daily as they do in nature – as is the case with minks, the most common animals used for fur breeding in Latvia.
Due to poor living conditions, animals are under constant stress, manifesting behavioral disorders typical for captive animals such as functionless repetition of movement. These animals are also killed in gas chambers through exposure to carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide despite the well-known fact that it causes a slow and painful death as minks can hold their breath for a long time and live up to 20 minutes after the gas is released.
Animal Friends Croatia is overjoyed at this long-awaited decision, pointing out that Croatia banned fur farming back in 2006, while the ban came into effect in 2017 after a 10-year transition period. “It is also encouraging to see considerable progress achieved in other countries that realize that it is time to say a resolute and loud NO to killing animals for fur. We call on everyone not to buy or wear clothes or shoes made of animal leather or fur, but to choose quality environment-friendly and much more economical materials that are far more attractive and warmer than the animal ones,” state Animal Friends Croatia.
The group is calling on everyone to join in the European Citizens’ Initiative “Fur Free Europe,” started by the international coalition Fur Free Alliance, in cooperation with a number of animal protection groups across Europe, including Animal Friends Croatia and Eurogroup for Animals. Signatures will be collected until May 2023, and are open to all EU citizens who support the complete fur farming ban in the European Union.