Norway Will Ban Fur Farming By 2025

Norway is set to introduce a total ban on fur farming by 2025, after a statement released by a domestic animal rights organisation.

NOAH, a Norwegian animal rights group, posted an announcement on its website from the government.

It read: "[Translation] The government will conduct a controlled winding up of fur farming. The aim is to promote a parliamentary petition to the Storting on a ban on fur farming with a settlement period for existing producers until the end of 2024/25."

With a seven-year wait before the ban comes into effect, the organisation also said: "Seven years is a long time for the animals to be born and live in cages.

PA

"This is the result of tugging in the negotiations. NOAH will work for the transition time to be shorter and the conversion support will be set up so as to end as many as possible as early as possible."

The PETA UK website reveals that there are currently 300 fur farms in Norway, breeding and killing 700,000 mink and over 100,000 foxes every year.

A 2014 exposé revealed the extent of cruelty towards animals at fur farms in Norway and elsewhere, ramping up pressure to have them closed down.

Speaking to LADbible, PETA's Director of International Projects, Mimi Bekhechi said: "The fur industry is rapidly running out of places to operate, especially now that Norway is set to join the host of countries - including Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK - that have implemented bans on fur farming.

PA

"Norway is currently home to 300 fur farms, which breed and kill 700,000 minks and 110,000 foxes every year - so this is a hugely significant victory for animals.

"[The] 2014 PETA exposé documented horrific conditions on fur farms in Norway and several other countries that claimed to have the highest animal-welfare standards. It shows animals suffering from starvation, thirst, and untreated, bloody wounds.

"At such facilities, many animals go insane as a result of the confinement, and some are driven to self-mutilation and cannibalism.

"Dead animals are left to rot, often among their desperate cagemates. And at the end of this ordeal, the animals are killed, typically using cheap and gruesome methods such as electrocution, neck-breaking, and poisoning."

Fur farming has been illegal in the UK since 2000, but remains legal in countries such as France and Ireland.

It also set to be made illegal in the Czech Republic next year, the Netherlands by 2024 and phased out in Germany by 2022.

Topics: World News, Animal Rights, PETA, Animal Welfare, Norway, Animals

Ronan O'Shea

Ronan J O'Shea is a freelance journalist from London who has written for titles including LADbible, Headspace, The Independent, National Geographic Traveller and New York Post. Contact him at [email protected].