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Press release Nov 30, 2004
INRA Opinion Poll: Almost 80% of Belgians Want a Ban on Fur Farms
New footage reveals the appalling animal suffering in Belgian fur farms
British Minister Maria Eagle, who brought about the legal ban on fur farms in Britain, explains the British decision to Belgian MPs and the chairman of the Socialist Party SPA, Steve Stevaert
GAIA is launching a petition and is calling for measures to be taken by the Minister responsible for Animal Welfare, Rudy Demotte
79% of Belgians want fur farms to be banned in Belgium.
Only 15% of Belgians have no objection to animals being kept for their fur (5% none at all and 10% not really). This appears from an opinion survey of a representative sample of inhabitants of Belgium over 18, conducted by INRA at the request of GAIA. 1006 persons were questioned between 5 and 13 August 2005. The maximum margin of error is 3.1%. The results were made public on 30th november at a press conference in Brussels.
With 86% in favour of a ban, most young people between 18 and 34 want Belgian fur farms to be shut down.
In all age groups there are more women (83%) than men (76%) in favour of a ban on fur farms.
Only one Belgian household in ten owns a fur coat or a jacket with real fur trimmings.
72% of Belgians do not know that animals kept for their fur are killed by gassing (in the case of mink) or by anal electrocution (in the case of foxes).
36% know that animals in fur farms are kept in tiny cages.
There is hardly any difference in the replies according to a person's social class.
The current British Minister for Disabled People, Maria Eagle, attended the press conference.
Minister Eagle, who came to Brussels at GAIA's invitation, is the architect of the legal ban on the breeding of animals exclusively for their fur in Britain. This ban entered into force in 2003. The British Minister explained how the ban came about in her country. In the afternoon she had a meeting on this matter with MPs and the chairman of the SPA, Steve Stevaert.
GAIA is launching a petition for a ban on fur farms in Belgium. GAIA also presented a new report exposing the falseness of the arguments of the fur industry.
GAIA also showed video images of the harrowing suffering of animals for fur, such as images of dying and dead mink lying at the bottom of their cage; also recent images of Belgian fur farms, which demonstrate that also in our own country fur animals suffer for fur.
Nicki Brooks, director of Respect for Animals, clarifies the suffering of animals. The images show that mink and foxes, locked up in small, very uncomfortable wire cages of 25 inches x 39.5 inches for 1 to 2 foxes and 12 inches x 34 inches for 2 to 3 mink), show extensive abnormal, disturbed behaviour: the animals keep endlessly jumping up and down without purpose, continuously running into and out of the nesting box, turning the same rounds over and over again, spinning with their neck and against the cage wall; mink show bleeding bite wounds on their feet and tail, the result of self-mutilation or aggression between the animals. The mink keep biting their own tail or foot until it bleeds and the bone shows.
The images show the conditions of fur farms in Belgium, Great Britain (before the ban) and Scandinavia.
The housing system and the methods for killing the animals are about the same everywhere. The killing of the foxes is done by means of electrocution. The fox is tied up by a noose around the neck and held by the tail. The animal puts up a fight. One metal electrode bar is introduced into the foxıs anus and another one into itıs snout. This is how foxes are electrocuted for fur. Mink are usually gassed. The catching of the mink is a brutal process. Mink are neither domesticated nor tame, but wild animals that are by definition hard to manipulate. The breeder will therefore not catch the animal barehanded. In order to get control over some animals the breeder may even resort to violence.
According to the 2001 report of the Scientific Committee of Animal Welfare and Animal Health of the European Commission 'The welfare of animals kept for fur production', 42% of the mink have a mutilated tail, of which 22% are seriously mutilated.
In Austria the ban on the breeding of fur animals will be enforced in 2005. GAIA asks the Minister for Animal Welfare Rudy Demotte to take the necessary measures to abolish the breeding of fur animals in our country. "The great majority of the population wants Belgium to follow the example of Great Britain and Austria," says Ann De Greef, director of GAIA. "By the revelation of these images we want to show the hidden suffering of fur animals. The suffering is there. GAIA hopes that the relatively few people that have a fur coat or a jacket with real fur trimmings, wonıt be blind for this. GAIA hopes that these people, or those that intended to buy a fur coat, will become aware of the suffering and thus will realize their wrongdoing."
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