Norway has pledged to be the first Nordic country to shut down all fur farms by 2025. The decision comes from Norway’s Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, as part of a deal with the anti-fur liberal party, making Norway the 14th European country to phase out fur farming.
There are currently close to 300 fur farms in Norway. PETA reports that 700,000 minks and 11,000 foxes are bred and killed each year in Norway, which produces around one million pelts a year.
Animal welfare organizations were delighted at the news.
“We’re very pleased,” NOAH animal rights group leader, Siri Martinsen, said.
He also added that the plan seemed sure to have majority support in Norway’s parliament.
Camilla Björkbom, chairman of the Animal Society Right also welcomed the following news:
“We welcome the Swedish Government’s proposal to investigate the welfare of minkers on Sweden’s fur farms, but today we see that Norway shows that a ban on fur farming is possible. This is a great news, not least for all the animals that are now not born and killed for their fur in Norway, but also because it sets a good example for Sweden and the upcoming Swedish investigation.” Translated by Veggie Athletic
Ruud Tombrock, Executive Director of Humane Society International/EU also said in a statement to Newsweek on Monday:
“We are thrilled to see such an unequivocal pledge from the Norwegian government to ban all fur farming, and look forward to seeing this important decision receiving the political backing it deserves. Factory farming wild animals for fur in appallingly deprived conditions is unconscionably cruel, so to see a ban on this dreadful trade in a Scandinavian country is truly historic.”
