Finnish fur farmers: the Dutch ban on mink farming is far from being ethical

The bill adopted today by the lower house of the Dutch Parliament to ban mink farming in the Netherlands is immoral and not based on facts, says Tuula Dahlman, Managing Director of the Finnish Fur Breeders’ Association.  She is confident that the upper house of the Parliament, which makes the final decision about the law, will reject it. The Dutch bill is not concerned with animal welfare, on the contrary the ban on mink farming is wanted for ethical and moral reasons. The situation is made even more peculiar by the fact that the Dutch Minister of Agriculture is strongly opposed to the law. The Netherlands is the second largest producer of mink pelts in Europe.

- The law would deprive Dutch producers, who invested about EUR 60 million on animal welfare and production development in 2003–2009 (source: Deloitte 2009), of their livelihood for no compensation. It is far from being ethical.

- Although the law doesn’t have any direct effects on other countries, it is a threat to the whole European agricultural sector. The opponents aim to make the entire farm animal industry impossible in the long run.

In Finland, the fur industry employs directly and indirectly as many as 22,000 and fur farming directly 7,000 people, and the value of the Finnish production will amount to approximately EUR 160 million this year.
The law debated by the lower house of the Dutch Parliament today is originally based on a bill drafted by a single MP, and it is not a government proposal.
- The European fur farming represents the best in the industry, says Françoise Hossay, Managing Director of European Fur Breeders’ Association EFBA.