Norway's new government pledges to ban all fur farming by 2024

London - Norway's newly formed government has issued an explicit manifesto to ban all fur farming by 2024, thereby becoming the 14th European country to phase out the inhumane practice.

The ban is set to be voted in Parliament, with the majority of Norway's political parties predicted to support it. Once the fur farming ban has been passed and implemented, Norway will join the links of other European countries such as Austria, Croatia and Norther Ireland in phasing out the practice.

Norway's fur farming ban will save the lives nearly one million foxes and minks, who are intensively bred and kept captive in cruel, cramped conditions before being slaughtered for their fur, on 340 farms across Norway each year. At the moment Norway is the second highest producer of fox fur after Finland.

The ban comes after animal rights activists, including Norwegian groups Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge and Nettverk for Dyrs Frihet (NOAH), campaigned for a fur ban for years. NOAH organised Europe's largest anti-fur protest to date, which saw more than 13,000 people take to the streets of Oslo and other Norwegian cities against fur farming. Full details of the ban have yet to be finalised, but all fur farms will be required to shut down by 2025.

Animal rights organisations, such as PETA, Fur Free Alliance and Humane Society International all celebrate the new government's pledge. "We are thrilled to see such an unequivocal pledge from the Norwegian government to ban all fur farming, and look forward to seeing this important decision receiving the political backing it deserves," said Ruud Tombrock, Executive Director of Humane Society International/EU. "We also hope that Norway’s fur farmers will decide to dismantle their businesses before the phase out deadline of 2024."

"Factory farming wild animals for fur in appallingly deprived conditions is unconscionably cruel, so to see a ban on this dreadful trade in a Scandinavian country is truly historic. It will spare nearly one million mink and fox a year from miserable lives in small wire cages, ending in horrible deaths. Consumers are turning their backs on the bloody fur trade, and it is only right that Norway’s politicians enable Norway to join the fast-growing list of compassionate nations refusing to allow cruel fur farming within their borders."

Other countries which are considering fur farming ban legislation include Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Norway's fur farming ban comes as more and more international retailers rethink their stance on fur, following Gucci's decision to go fur free last October. The Italian fashion house banished all fur from its collections from 2018, and was quickly followed by US designer Michael Kors. Other labels and retailer, such as Armani, Yoox Net-a-Porter, Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney, have banned fur from all their products.

Photos: Courtesy of HSI