The World’s Biggest Fur Auction House Is Shutting Down
Kopenhagen Fur – a business built on the suffering of caged animals denied a meaningful life and then killed for their fur – will be shutting down.
This will mark the end of an era in Denmark, which was the world’s largest fur producer, with 1,500 fur farms that held 16 million animals. The closure follows reports that a new vaccine-resistant, mutant strain of the novel coronavirus has emerged from Danish mink farms and spread to humans. In response, the Danish government announced a plan to kill every mink on the country’s fur farms in an effort to control the spread of the new strain.
In Canada, North American Fur Traders Auctions (NAPA), which was the second-largest fur auction house in the world, has been quietly liquidating its headquarters while “court-supervised restructuring proceedings” are underway with its creditors. Its financial troubles preceded COVID-19.
The market for fur is in decline around the world, and most top international designers – including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, Gucci, and Armani – are now 100% fur-free. Since the public and almost every designer around the globe now shun fur, it’s not surprising that the two biggest fur auction houses have collapsed. Fur is well and truly dead.
Will the Next Pandemic Come From a Fur Farm?
Fur farms packed with sick, stressed, suffering animals are revolting places, and because minks are particularly susceptible to respiratory illnesses, mink farms around the world have become dangerous breeding grounds for diseases and been identified as COVID-19 hotspots.
The viruses that cause SARS and COVID-19 first infected humans who came into close contact with captive wildlife at live-animal markets. Similarly, fur farms pose a serious public health risk. Animals are confined next to each other inside wire cages, and disease spreads easily through the exchange of urine, excrement, pus, and blood.
Minks on Fur Farms: Born to Be Killed
Investigations into Danish mink farms found wounded animals living in horrific conditions. Some had untreated bite wounds, while others’ legs had been bitten off during fights. Some minks were living next to the rotting corpses of their cagemates.
Unable to engage in natural behaviour, the sensitive animals often go mad from the confinement. As a result, some mutilate themselves, chewing on their own legs or tails.
At the end of their short lives, minks are killed in gruesome ways. Workers poison, gas, or drown them or even skin them alive.
Shut Fur Farms Down
Nobody needs fur coats, pom-poms, or other frivolous fashion items, but we do need an effective vaccine for COVID-19. PETA is asking the Danish prime minister to save the lives of humans and other animals by shutting fur farms down forever. Please join us! Sign our action alert now:
