Good News! Romania Bans Mink and Chinchilla Fur Farms

We have good news for minks and chinchillas. This week, the Parliament of Romania voted to amend the law to ban the breeding, keeping, and killing of these animals for fur, starting in 2027. This makes Romania the 22nd European country to adopt a ban of this kind.

Thousands of Lives Spared

The ban will save tens of thousands of animals yearly from a harrowing existence of extreme suffering.

On fur factory farms, chinchillas and minks spend their entire lives in barren cages, which are stacked on top of each other in foul-smelling sheds. Numerous investigations into these operations across many fur-producing countries have found animals with eye infections, sores on their feet from filthy wire cages, missing limbs, and festering, untreated open wounds.

The animals are electrocuted, gassed, poisoned, or drowned – and some are still alive when workers skin them.

Investigations around the world have also documented that chinchillas were electrocuted in full view of other caged animals. One screamed and struggled for over a minute during a botched electrocution. According to a worker, the clamps had been placed incorrectly, so the animal wasn’t stunned properly, which prolonged the ordeal. Afterwards, a worker crudely broke the still-living chinchilla’s neck with his fingers.

A Public Health Hazard

Fur factory farming involves cramming large numbers of animals together in rows of wire cages, where bodily fluids such as urine, excrement, pus, and blood can easily pass from one animal to another. The industry creates the risk of outbreaks of bird flu, COVID-19, and other dangerous zoonotic pathogens that can – and do – mutate and spread to humans.

Fur Is Toxic

In addition to the cruelty inherent in the fur industry and the danger it poses to the public, fur farming is responsible for huge volumes of greenhouse gases, pollutes soil and waterways with waste runoff, and requires massive amounts of land, water, crops, and energy.

What’s Next For the EU?

The Parliament of Romania is sending a strong signal of the need for compassionate decisions for animals – and it is acting in the interests of its voters. The majority of the European population rejects fur, and it’s high time the EU banned this archaic industry altogether.

What About the UK?

Fur factory farms have been banned for over two decades in the UK. However, the skin of dead chinchillas, minks, and other animals is still being sold here. Urge the government to ban all fur sales and imports in the UK:

Support #FurFreeBritain!

Oikeutta eläimille / We Animals Media