October 22, 2024

Breaking: Romania passes ban on fur farming

Kitty Block

In 2022, Humane Society International’s undercover investigation of chinchilla breeding operations in Romania exposed a desperate scene of animals packed tightly together and chewing on the bars of their cages.

HSI

After more than two years of campaigning by Humane Society International/Europe and fellow animal advocacy groups, Romania has banned chinchilla and mink fur farming. On Tuesday, the Romanian Parliament voted with an overwhelming majority of 217 in favor of the ban, with just six against and nine abstaining or declining to vote. Once enacted, this ban will bring an end to the only two fur farm industries that exist in Romania.

This latest victory for animals is a testament to the worldwide momentum toward the definitive end of fur farming and the use of fur in fashion. But the end cannot come fast enough, especially as the dangers and cruelties of fur farming continue to come to light.

In 2022, we released our undercover investigation of chinchilla breeding operations in Romania, exposing a desperate scene of animals packed tightly together in filthy cages stacked floor to ceiling. Female chinchillas in these factory-like operations are often subjected to a perpetual cycle of pregnancy and birth. Typically, these chinchillas are braced by the neck to stop them from escaping during mating, one male having access to up to 10 females at a time. Our undercover footage showed tiny chinchilla babies struggling to walk on the wire cage floors while adult chinchillas frantically chewed at cage bars.

Even leaving such cruelty aside, fur farming is unjustifiable. Recently, we discussed the dangers fur farms everywhere pose to public health. The risk of zoonotic disease spread that could cause the next pandemic, added to the abject and inherent cruelty involved in breeding animals just to grow and kill them by gassing or electrocution, makes the continuation of fur farming anywhere the height of absurdity. A recent study has found zoonotic viruses in foxes, mink and raccoon dogs who have come from fur farms in China that have spillover potential to infect human beings. Outbreaks of COVID-19 and highly pathogenic avian influenza have occurred at more than 500 fur farms in Europe and North America, resulting in millions of animals ordered killed on public health grounds.

Romania’s ban comes on the heels of promising progress out of the UK last week, as well, where a bill to ban fur imports and sales was introduced in Parliament. If passed into law, the ban would eliminate the UK’s complicity in the global fur trade.

Romania is the 22nd country in Europe to ban fur farming. We expect that the ban passed by the Parliament will be approved by the president and officially published—once this occurs, fur farming will be illegal effective Jan. 1, 2027. The fur industry in Romania has been in decline in recent years, with the number of fur farms dropping from more than 150 in 2013 to around a dozen in 2022.

Now our European team has its sights set on the next paradigm shift in this space—a ban on fur farming that covers the entire European Union. And we are continuing to push for fur sales bans in municipalities in the U.S. and fur-free commitments from some of the largest fashion retailers in the world. It’s quite an aspiration but given the dangerous risks and terrible cruelties of fur farms, there’s no time to waste.

Sign the fur-free pledge to tell the fashion industry where you stand on the cruelty of fur.

Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.   

Going Fur-Free

About the author

Kitty Block is President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and CEO of Humane Society International, the international affiliate of the HSUS

Breaking: Romania passes ban on fur farming

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