Anti-fur legislation
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2013:
If you’re wondering what this “waste pile” is made of, the answer is simple: the carcasses of the animals who died so that humans could take their skins for money. This photo comes from a Russian fur farm but the horrors are the same in all latitudes. —P. Greanville [Photo redacted]
TAIPEI, DEN HAGUE––Taiwan on January 8, 2013 became the first Asian nation to ban the import of seal pelts and products, by amendment to the national Wildlife Conservation Act, while the Dutch senate on December 18, 2012 ratified a ban on mink farming, to take effect in 2024. Both measures undercut fur trade hopes of economic recovery.
“In 2009,” recalled Humane Society of the U.S. president Wayne Pacelle, “the 27 countries of the European Union joined the U.S. and Mexico in prohibiting commercial trade in seal products. In 2011, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan banned imports of harp seal fur. In response, the Canadian government vowed to develop alternate markets in Asia. But the move sparked a major backlash in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea,” now formalized into law in Taiwan.
The Dutch ban on mink farming, pending before the national legislature since 1999, had previously cleared the Dutch house of representatives, but had been blocked by the Senate. Killing six million mink per year, the Netherlands is third behind China and Denmark in mink production.