Pamela Scott says No to Fur

national | animal rights | press release Tuesday March 17, 2009 11:26 by ALiberation - ALiberation aliberationnow at gmail dot com www.vegaplanet.org 0863203643

Flairline Fashions Group joins Fur Free Shopping

ALiberation welcomed The Flairline Fashions Group to it’s Fur Free Shopping Program
The Flairline Fashions Group portfolio of stores includes Pamela Scott, Richard Alan, Lisa Perkins, Ashley Reeves and Pamela Scott Ski. All 24 outlets within the group will end all connection with animal fur.

Contact: Jim Walsh of ALiberation
Mobile: 086 320 3643
Email: [email protected]

Flairline Fashions now Fur Free

ALiberation welcomed The Flairline Fashions Group to it’s Fur Free Shopping Program
The Flairline Fashions Group portfolio of stores includes Pamela Scott, Richard Alan, Lisa Perkins, Ashley Reeves and Pamela Scott Ski. All 24 outlets within the group will end all connection with animal fur.

A campaign spearheaded by ALiberation in association with AFAR and ARAN came to happy conclusion when the Flairline Fashions Group decided to go fur free. This is a successful outcome for a campaign that at one stage also involved CAFT

The fur free program is for all time and includes rabbits and karakul lambs. The program began on March 1st 2009.

The fact that no animal fur will be sold in Flairline Fashions Group stores throughout Ireland is a significant blow to the fur industry in this country; an industry that directly kills 170,000 animals in 6 fur factory farms in Ireland each year. Due to weak Irish laws and a Minister of Agriculture that is not fulfilling his role this caged exploitation continues today in a modern Ireland.

The animal fur industry is built upon violating rights and the exploitation of animals.

The Flairline Fashions Group will now join the vast majority of stores around the country by saying no to animal fur. They will join the growing list of influential designers and stores such as Brown Thomas, Arnotts, TopShop, Dunnes Stores, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Next, and Karen Millen to name a few”

Jim Walsh, representative for ALiberation said “We are delighted that the Flairline Fashions Group has made this statement by signing our program against using animal fur. We’re very happy to include them on all fur free lists. After all nobody needs to wear fur except the animal whose skin it is”

Notes
Trim and Accessories
• Contrary to popular belief, trim is not just a “bit of fur”. This is the backbone of the animal fur industry.

• Over 40% of new fur sales revenue comes from the sale of animal fur used as trims on jackets or accessories (handbags etc)

Ireland
• There are 6 know mink fur factory farms operating under 5 licences issued by the Dept of Agriculture in Ireland. There is also 1 known fox factory farm operating on one of the mink factory farms without licence.

• Every year in Ireland over 170,000 minks arctic foxes and red foxes are killed just for fur. All are wild animals.

• Fur factory farms are built on rights violations. Each fur factory farm exploits animals for profit.

• Nearly 2/3rd's of people surveyed in 2004 want fur factory farming outlawed. Opinion Poll by Millward Brown IMS

• Due to the intensive nature of fur factory farming, it offers little employment. In the 2005 Dail Debate it was estimated to be 20 full time people in Ireland and about 85 seasonal workers for when the animals are killed.

• Minks and foxes are wild predators. Minks are not native to Ireland but there are now minks dispersed all over Ireland. All came from fur factory farms.

• Animals on fur factory farms will be caged for their entire life. They will never escape for exercise.

• They will be crammed into tiny barren wire mesh cages for their life with up to 4 other animals. Each cage, will be placed beside other cages in long rows measuring about 100m. Each row will be in a shed with 2 to 8 rows of cages and each shed will be placed alongside other sheds. In effect an animal like a mink who is a naturally solitary animal who in the wild on his own in a territory of up to 6km will exist with 10’s of thousands of other minks in the space of a few hectares.

• These animals are caged for their entire life in tiny barren wire mesh cages. Their natural behavioual needs will always be suppressed. Minks are solitary animals, who need to swim, climb, hunt, run and freedom. Both Artic Foxes and Red Foxes need to dig, hunt, travel and freedom. They also have a very complex social structure that is always deprived on a fur factory farm.

• Due to the constant suppression of basic behavioural needs, the animals will develop “cage madness” that results in self mutilation and cannibalism. This is where the animals repeat the same motion again and again. If this condition was seen in a human it would be called “psychotic”

• Please see link for recent undercover footage from all fur factory farms in Ireland. Disturbing amount of “cage madness” seen http://aliberation.vegaplanet.org/irish.fur.undercover.php

Stereotypical Behaviour “Cage Madness” Quotes
*"Mink stereotypies are not seen in the wild…"
*"….stereotyping mink(s) can run up to 40 kilometres a day"
*"Stereotypies, largely locomotor in nature, are widespread on mink farms. For example in a large scale study stereotypies were shown to occur in 31 to 85% of females…"
*"The typical mink cage with a nest box and wire mesh floor impairs mink welfare because it does not provide for important needs."
The Welfare of Animals kept for fur production by the European Commission Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare Report 2001*

On the legality of fur farming – Housing Regulations

Since 2000, statutory law has required that minks and foxes be housed according to their behavioural needs, under the heading “Freedom of Movement.” The following wording originates in the 1976 European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes, repeated verbatim in EC 98/58, S.I. 127/2000 and S.I. 14/2008:

“Where an animal is continuously or regularly tethered or confined, it must be given the space appropriate to its physiological and ethological٭ needs in accordance with established experience and scientific knowledge.”

• The Department of Agriculture & Food is obliged to interpret and apply statutory welfare legislation, typically through standing committees.
• Three Fianna Fail Ministers of Agriculture have failed in their duties since then. Minister Joe Walsh, Minister Mary Coughlan and the current Minister Brendan Smith. Half of the fur factory farms are located in Mary Coughlan's constituency.
• To date, there is no record of any committee discussions on how minks/foxes should be housed. Instead, the Council of Europe’s 1999 minimum cage sizes are used, which were found to be inadequate two years later.
• The European report on the welfare of fur-farmed animals (2001) found the current caging system “impairs mink welfare,” and “the typical fox cage does not provide for important needs of foxes.”
• This welfare report was brought to the current minister’s attention in 2005 whilst debating the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill introduced by the Green Party. Minister Smith dismissed the report on the (false) grounds that “ongoing research is required.”
• This Bill was supported by all opposition parties at the time. Only the Fianna Fail party and the PD’s opposed.
• The licensing system requires that mink be kept in escape-proof cages.
• Anyone may breed foxes permanently in barren cages without a license.

The claim that fur factory farming in Ireland is a legitimate activity is false.

٭ Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour.

References:

European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming purposes (1976):
http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/087.htm

S.I. 127/2000 (Protection of Animals kept for farming purposes):
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/si/0127.html

S.I. 14/2008 (Welfare of farmed animals):
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/legislation/SI2008/SI14-2...8.PDF

The Welfare of Animals kept for fur production (2001):
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/international/o...n.pdf

Minister’s dismissal of welfare report, Page 1219
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/Xml/29/DAL20050322.PDF

* European Communities (Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes) Regulations 2000, (S.I. No. 127/2000)
Worldwide
• Each year 100’s of millions of animals are killed for the fur industry. It is impossible to say how many as the most used animal species is rabbit and no figures are kept for rabbits killed for their fur. It is estimated that between 300 to a billion rabbits are killed for the fur industry. Rabbit fur is not a byproduct of the meat industry.

• China is believed to be the largest killer of animals for fur. There is no animal welfare laws in China.

• Worldwide animals are killed through a multitude of ways. They are poisoned by gas, anally electrocuted, clubbed to death, swung against the ground, drowned, starved, frozen, suffocated, strangled, necks broken, backs broken, throats slit, skinned alive.

• The most notorious hunt for fur will begin soon in Canada where Seals as young as 12 days will be clubbed to death and are often skinned while alive.

• Any type of animal with fur may be used by the fur industry. Seals, Bears, Dogs, Wolves, Minks, Otters, Arctic Foxes, Cats, Lynxs, Wolverines, Red Foxes, Chinchillas, Polecats, Rabbits, Karakul Lambs, Beavers etc. If an animal has fur then they are liable to be killed for this industry.

• Fur farming is outlawed in other countries including our closest neighbours Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.