271 Irish Stars: "We are all calling for an immediate ban on fur factory farming in Ireland"

Athletes, directors, authors, actors, radio presenters, musicians and models all leant their names to call on Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney to ban fur farming, an industry that condemns almost a quarter-million minks to a life of suffering each year.

Left to right: Imelda May, Anjelica Huston and Rachel Pilkington.

European countries, including Austria, the Netherlands and the UK, have already banned the cruel practice, and actor Rachel Pilkington wants Ireland to join them. She gathered the celebrity support and submitted a 13-page document to the government which outlines why this industry runs counter to the principles of best animal welfare. Just a few of the household names on the list include Saoirse Ronan, Victoria Smurfit, Amy Huberman, Stephen Rea, Sharon Shannon, Pauline McLynn, Peter Coonan, Síle and Gráinne Seoige, Sonia O’ Sullivan and Rosanna Davison.

These celebrities now join PETA, ARAN, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and hundreds of thousands of compassionate people in Ireland and beyond who oppose the industry.

Other compassionate Irish celebs who have spoken out include Imelda May, who went public with her disgust for the fur industry in 2013 and wrote to the government that “Ireland needs to stop dragging its feet. Regulating the industry is not enough – please make Irish people proud and enact an immediate ban on fur farming”.

BAFTA and Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston has also shared her thoughts on the industry when she appealed to the minister in 2012 to ask that Ireland honour its commitment to ban fur farming in the then-upcoming Animal Health and Welfare Bill. At the time she said, “This issue means a lot to me as I grew up in Ireland and used to wear fur. I had a change of heart when I learned how minks and foxes on fur farms are crammed into tiny, dirty cages and driven so crazy by the confinement that many self-mutilate and even cannibalize their cagemates”.

You can join the 271 stars who supported this initiative and help minks by writing to the Irish government today and asking authorities to make shameful fur farms a thing of the past in Ireland.

Mink photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Anjelica photo: © DP/starmaxinc.com

Imelda photo: “Imelda May at Evolution Festival 24-May-2009” / Yaffa Phillips / CC BY-SA 2.0