The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE), the Federation of Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA), and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) have adopted a unified position calling for a phase-out of fur farming, grounded in three pillars of scientific evidence: animal welfare, public health risk, and environmental harm.
Animal Welfare: Inherently Compromised
Fur farming confines wild or semi-domesticated species in cages that cannot meet their fundamental behavioural needs. The EFSA opinion has concluded that the welfare of animals kept on fur farms cannot be adequately ensured under current husbandry systems. These systems severely restrict national behaviours, with stereotypic behaviours, and self-mutilation documented across species. These are not easily correctable management failures- they are predictable outcomes of the farming of (semi-)wild species.
Public Health: A Documented Pandemic Risk
Mink are documented amplifiers of zoonotic disease, shown to facilitate viral mutation and spillback to humans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, confirmed mink-to-human transmission of novel variants led to the mass culling of tens of millions of animals across Europe. Spill-over Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks (HPAI H5N1) have been reported on fur farms in Spain and Finland. Under the One Health framework, fur farms represent an unacceptable and ongoing biosecurity risk.
Ecological impacts and biodiversity loss
Populations of American mink, having been introduced or escaped from European fur farms, are now established in the wild, and are therefore classified as invasive alien species in 28 European. Countries. American mink is on the EU list of invasive species.
Our Call to Action
The science is clear. EU citizens also spoke clearly in the “Fur Free Europe” ECI. National countries already acted, with bans already progressing in 17 EU Member States and debates ongoing in many others. Now it is time for the EU Commission to act! FVE, FECAVA, and WSAVA call on policymakers to follow the science and the request of consumers namely to implement:
· A legally enacted phase-out of fur farming within the next decade.
· A ban on placing farmed fur and derived products on the EU market.
· A ban on imports from third countries that have not adopted equivalent phase-out measures.
📄 Read the full FVE, FECAVA, and WSAVA position paper HERE
