Italy set to become 16th European nation to permanently ban fur farming

The breeding of fur animals has been outlawed for good throughout Italy thanks to a vote last week in the Budget Committee of the Italian Senate. In addition, the ten still existing mink fur farms, five of which are without animals due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will have to shut down by the end of June.

The breeding of mink will be banned as soon as the law comes into effect. AP - Mads Claus Rasmussen

Official approval by the Italian parliament of the Senate decisions is expected this week.

Animal rights campaigners in Italy rejoiced and have described the vote “a dream come true”.

The legislation followed a report, published just last month by the animal protection organization Humane Society International/Europe, entitled “Mink breeding in Italy: Mapping and future perspectives”, which offered a clear picture of the present situation in Italy.

According to the report, Italy had a flurishing fur industry with 125 farms breeding minks, foxes and chinchillas in the early 90s, and hundreds of thousand of animals were being killed every year.

Since then, the situation has greatly changed, thanks to animal rights associations which have been raising awareness for decades about these cruel activities. The fur market has lost ground throughout the world and in Italy in 2015 more than 90 percent of those questioned declared themselves opposed to fur breeding.

A historic victory for animal rights

Many big names of the fashion world including Valentino, Armani, Versace, Prada and Furla have already stopped using fur in their designs and at their shows.

“This is a historic victory for animal protection in Italy,” Humane Society International Italy director Martina Pluda said in a statement. “The vote recognizes that allowing the mass breeding of wild animals for frivolous fur fashion represents a risk to both animals and people that can’t be justified by the limited economic benefits it offers to a small minority of people involved in this cruel industry.”

Michela Vittoria Brambilla, President of Italy’s Parliamentary Intergroup for Animal Rights and of the Italian League for the Defence of Animals and the Environment, was also thrilled. In a statement, they said: “In thirty years of animal rights battles this is the best victory. Finally, a parliamentary vote sanctions the end of unspeakable suffering inflicted on animals in the name of profit and vanity”.

Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture has earmarked 3 million euros to compensate farmers affected by the fur ban.