(22/05/2002) Northern Ireland Executive out of touch with public opinion on fur

The British Fur Trade Association says: "The Northern Ireland Executive is out of touch with public opinion on farmed fur. The reality is that consumer demand for farmed fur is soaring and the evidence is everywhere. "

Consumers are voting with their feet and wallets as they flock to the shops to buy fur. As a result farm fur production increased 10% last year giving European fur farmers an average 22% increase at the farmgate.

In step with rising production, worldwide consumption has risen dramatically. In the UK for example, sales of fur including fur trim for the 1999/2000 season increased by well over 30% compared to the previous season. And more designers that ever before are using farmed fur in their collections today – that’s a ten-fold increase since 1985 when statistics were first recorded!

Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of people in the UK agree that it is OK to farm animals for any purpose provided there is good welfare (80% Taylor Nelson Sofres plc). It is a fact that fur farming and good animal welfare go hand in hand. Scientific evidence has proven that the animal welfare on fur farms is at least as high as that on farms where the production aim is food (see notes to editor below).

The BFTA adds: "The Northern Ireland Executive is simply wasting valuable parliamentary time by introducing a ban on fur farming. And for no other reason than to bring the law in line with that of England and Wales, and Scotland. This suggests that the Northern Ireland Executive must slavishly follow English law, whether correct or not!."

-ends-

Issued by the British Fur Trade Association.
Press contact: Andrea Martin
e-mail press@britishfur.co.uk

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Notes to editors:

The Fur Farming (Prohibition) (Northern Ireland) Bill is to be debated in the Northern Ireland Parliament on Tuesday, 22 May 2002.
Members of the British Fur Trade Association buy the majority of the world’s farmed fur at primary level (at auction) making the UK the world’s leading market for fur.
An opinion poll carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres plc in September 2001 found that 8 out of 10 people in the UK support farming for any purpose providing there is good animal welfare. Only 3% of those interviewed disagreed strongly.
Scientific evidence has proven that the animal welfare on fur farms is at least as high as that on farms where the production aim is food – Report on the welfare situation of farmed mink as compared to other farmed animals by the Animal Welfare Centre at the Veterinary Centre of the University of Utrecht, December 1999.
Fur statistics:
85% of the world’s fur is produced on farms ­ 70% in the European Union.
Fur farming is carried out in 12 of 15 EU countries on more than 6,000 farms and is one of the few farming activities that is unsubsidised. Denmark is the world’s largest country producer. The UK’s largest mink farmer (and one of the world’s leading producers of Blue Iris mink) has now shifted his farm to Denmark, withdrawing more than £2 million from the local economy of Bude, Devon (following the ban on fur farming in England and Wales)
Mink production rose from 27 million in 2000 to 29 million pelts in 2001, continuing a 10-year upward trend.
The value of EU farmed fur (skin auction price value in 1999) was 625 million Euro.
The value of fur sales in the EU in 1998/99 season was 3,385 million Euro.
The value of fur sales in the EU in 1999/00 season estimated at 4.8 billion Euro.
More designers than even before featured fur in their collections in 2001 ­ a ten-fold increase since 1985 (40) when statistics were first recorded. Top designers and fashion houses using fur included Dior, Gucci, Chanel, Versace, Julien Macdonald, Maria Grachvogel, Jasper Conran, Jean Paul Gaultier and Givenchy.
For more information on the world-wide fur sector see www.britishfur.co.uk
Visual Material
Photos – jpeg computer files available of British farmer holding a mink and catwalk shots of models wearing fur from the Autumn/Winter 2003 collections in London, Paris and Milan.
Broadcast quality library tape (Beta) with running sheet available of fur farming shots – including general inside and outside farm shots, workers tending and feeding the animals, animal welfare and comments from a leading animal welfare expert. A VHS version is also available.