Prime Minister Theresa May received an urgent letter today urging her to introduce a U.K. ban on animal-fur imports.
Dame Judi Dench and Ricky Gervais were among the 31 British celebrities to sign the letter which comes as a U.K. Government and Parliament petition nears its March 23rd deadline to garner the 100,000 signatures necessary to ensure a parliamentary debate on the U.K. fur trade.
Fur farming has been illegal in the U.K. since 2000, but since then Britain has imported hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fur from countries such as China and Poland, where animals are typically bred in appalling conditions on fur farms.
The stars signed the open letter to show their support for the #FurFreeBritain campaign run by a coalition of prominent animal charities including the Humane Society International U.K., the RSPCA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Four Paws, The Jane Goodall Institute U.K. and Open Cages among others.
“We are delighted that so many of the UK’s best-loved celebrities have spoken out in favor of a Fur-Free Britain. Their words echo the calls from the vast majority of the British public who want to see an end to animal fur being imported onto our shores,” Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International UK, said in a statement. “The UK banned fur farming almost two decades ago because of animal suffering, but we continue to import that same cruelty from other countries such as Canada, China, Poland, and the U.S., where the appalling suffering continues. We urge Theresa May and her government to put an end to this double standard.”
More than 100 million animals suffer each year for the global fur trade, most of them reared in terrible conditions on fur farms. Naturally, wide-ranging species such as raccoon dogs, minks and foxes are subjected to physical and psychological torment in small, barren cages for their entire lives before being killed by gassing or electrocution and then skinned. Wild animals caught for their fur, such as coyotes, fare little better as they languish in agony in cruel traps for hours or even days before being shot.
Although fur farming is outlawed in the U.K. and EU, regulations ban imports of fur from domesticated cats and dogs and from commercial seal hunts. Britain still imports and sells the fur of a variety of other species including: foxes, rabbits, minks, coyotes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas.
Despite opinion polls showing consistently high levels of public disapproval of fur, regardless of species; on average, 80 percent of British citizens believe that it’s unacceptable to buy or sell animal fur in the U.K.
The #FurFreeBritain campaign is calling on the government to make the U.K. a fur-free zone by extending the existing ban on imports of cat, dog, and seal fur to all fur-bearing species.
Sign this important petition so that it can reach the 100,000 signatures needed HERE!
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