Animal Rights Campaigners Ordered to Withdraw False Fur Claims

Press release from the British Fur Trade Association
Animal Rights Campaigners Ordered to Withdraw False Fur Claims
Media contact: Jan Brown
Tel: +44-171-2812487; Fax: +44-171-2811374; E-mail: us@bfta-fec.demon.co.uk
JUNE 10, 1998: British fur farmers today issued a plea for the facts to prevail as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told animal rights campaigners for the second time within 18 months to withdraw misleading advertising material.
In a judgement out today the ASA found against ‘Respect for Animals’ because it had claimed that no law exists to govern the slaughter of fur farmed animals. The Authority was concerned that the advertisers used a claim that was not true. The ASA had previously ordered a 1997 poster campaign to be withdrawn because it went beyond the bounds of acceptability and would cause serious offence.
In a statement today, a fur farming spokesman said: “British fur farmers are deeply concerned and insulted that misleading claims about fur farming that contradict scientific knowledge, government and European regulations and available facts continue to be promoted by the animal rights movement.
“Emotional appeals suggesting that fur farmed animals are ill-treated may attract more public and media attention than the practical reality of healthy, fit animals, but it is simply illogical for farmers to rear unhealthy or distressed mink. It is in the commercial interests of all farmers to care for their livestock through excellent nutrition, adequate housing and good veterinary care.”
The British Fur Trade Association (BFTA) maintains: “High standards are a commercial reality for fur farmers – not the opposite. Words and pictures used by animal rights campaigners to support claims of animal ill-treatment, are clearly intended to mislead, shock and alarm, and not to inform and educate.”
The BFTA adds: “Undoubtedly fur farming is emotive, so it is even more important that lobby groups are prevented from making false, exaggerated or alarmist claims to misrepresent what is a lawful and well-regulated agricultural undertaking.”
Elliot Morley, the minister responsible for animal welfare, said in Parliament last year that the Government will be working within the Council of Europe to ensure “the adoption of the highest possible standards consistent with the scientific evidence and expert opinion” in relation to European fur farming. This is also the objective of British fur farmers.
Notes to editors:
On 10 June 1998, the Advertising Standards Authority found against Respect for Animals (RFA), the Nottingham-based animal rights group because it had claimed there are no rules governing the slaughter of fur farmed animals. The Authority was concerned that RFA had used a claim that was not true. The Authority also ordered the organisation to “ensure future claims could be substantiated” about trapping regulations. The British Fur Trade Association objected to a leaflet that was titled “Every second an animal dies for ‘fashion’”. In March 1997 the ASA found an RFA poster campaign “so shocking that it went beyond the bounds of acceptability for a poster and was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and distress”.
Fur farmers follow specific codes of farming practice and the provisions of EU directive 93/119/EC on the handling of animals at the time of slaughter. Welfare standards for supervision, housing, management, breeding and slaughter of fur farmed animals are determined by the 40 countries of the Council of Europe and set out under the ‘European Convention for the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, Recommendation concerning fur animals’, 19 October 1990. The Recommendation and EU directive 93/119/EC underpin British fur farming operations today.
British fur farmers are represented on the European Fur Breeders Association, an umbrella organisation representing around 8,000 fur farms operating in Europe, including 12 in the UK.
Farmed fur contributes some 85% to world fur production. 80% of world fur farming takes place in Europe. Britain contributes less than 1% to European fur production.
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