According to an email from Humane Society International (HSI), Hungary has banned the farming of mink, foxes, polecats/ferrets and coypu. In the wake of mink testing positive for coronavirus in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Sweden and the United States, Hungary has joined the ban.

Source: Born Free USA /Youtube

HSI Europe has called on Hungary to add chinchilla to the ban. Hungary’s Ministerial Commissioner of Animal Protection, Péter Óvári, announced the ban on November 25.

Dr. Joanna Swabe, senior director of public affairs for Humane Society International/Europe, said in an emailed statement, “We applaud the Hungarian government for taking decisive action to ban fur farming of mink, foxes, polecats/ferrets and coypu in light of concerns about zoonotic disease risks and animal welfare. Although these species are not currently farmed for fur in the country, this ban is more than just symbol politics because there is a very real and present danger that fur farmers from elsewhere in Europe may attempt to move their operations to Hungary and set up shop there. This is a precautionary measure that shuts the door to that happening, and that is a good outcome for human health and animal welfare. However, the ban fails to include chinchilla who are bred in their many thousands for fur throughout Hungary in exactly the same kind of deprived conditions as mink, and who could also be susceptible to viruses. For as long as the animal exploitation of fur farming is tolerated, the potential for reservoirs of animal to human pathogens will persist, and so HSI hopes that the Hungarian government will also consider strengthening its ban by shutting down the country’s chinchilla fur farms too, and make fur farming history in Hungary.”

The first infections on Dutch mink fur farms were found in April and the government used the opportunity to take a stance against the industry and call for closing all farms by March 2021. Over a million mink were killed during the pandemic. In Denmark, the government decided to cull around 15 million mink “due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines.” However, the cull was not completed due to a court order.

Read more about mink and fur farms during coronavirus, including the coronavirus spread through Dutch farms, a million mink killed by Dutch fur farms during coronavirus, and the Dutch government’s previous statement on mink and the coronavirus. 

Sign this petition to demand a complete end to mink fur farming in Denmark!

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