After years of campaigning by animal rights groups, animals have won a victory — Romania has voted to ban fur farming, becoming the 22nd European country to do so, Reuters reports.
Once Romanian President Klaus Iohannis officially puts the law into effect and it’s published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the phase out process will begin. By 2027, Romania will be free of fur farms.
In 2022, Romania’s National Liberty Party initiated the bill to ban fur farms after The Humane Society International (HSI)/Europe revealed disturbing details from their undercover investigation of Romania’s chinchilla fur farms. The investigation uncovered animals crammed into tiny cages in windowless rooms, adults chewing on cage bars, and animals allegedly killed using crude homemade gas chambers.
As more Romanians learned of the cruelty animals are subjected to on fur farms, chinchilla and mink fur farms began falling out of favor. The country had 150 farms just a decade ago, but by 2022, the number had dropped to just a dozen or so, as more Romanians began supporting a complete ban — and now it has become law.
“Today’s decision to ban fur farming is not only a landmark moment for animal protection in Romania, but also a pivotal step in the broader European effort to end one of the cruelest forms of exploitation of animals,” Ruud Tombrock, executive director for HSI/Europe, said in a statement. “As public concern for animal welfare grows across Europe, demonstrated by the overwhelming success of the Fur Free Europe ECI [European Citizens’ Initiative], it is clear that fur farming has no place in a compassionate and ethical society and the only way to move forward is by adopting an EU-wide ban on production of fur.”
Despite more and more clothing and fashion companies rejecting fur, there remains some demand for it. As long as merchants continue to produce clothing made from animal fur, these cruel farms will exist. Please sign our petition urging retailers to stop selling fur.
Lady Freethinker applauds Romania’s government for doing the right thing in banning these horrific fur farms from their country. Their decision adds to the list of countries that understand treating animals cruelly is wrong — and we look forward to more countries following in their footsteps.
