NEWSLETTER
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European Commission to establish centre for fur animal welfare
Apr 16, 2019
by Mick Madsen
Despite massive protests from the animal lobby the European Commission have confirmed the establishing of a new EU supported animal welfare centre focusing on fur animals. International animal lobby NGO Four Paws has called the Commission’s plan “an unprecedented scandal”, but in spite of the massive protests, the Commission has now launched the call for European universities, who in cooperation will form the so-called EU Reference Centre for Animal Welfare. The centre will start in January 2020, and its focus is fur farmed species in addition to poultry and rabbits.
“It’s beyond my understanding how animal welfare NGOs can be against more animal welfare research, but I applaud the Commission for siding with science, not populistic opinion, in this matter,” Mette Lykke Nielsen, CEO of Fur Europe said.
In January, the European Commission added the fur sector’s animal welfare programme WelFur to the European Commission’s Self-Regulation Database. It is the first time ever an animal welfare programme has been added to this database, and it means the animal welfare programme has been scrutinised by the European Commission’s experts and found credible and robust enough for legislation purposes.
The Brussels-based umbrella organisation Eurogroup for Animals who organises the protests against Commissioner Andriukaitis, encourages European Parliament election candidates to “oppose initiatives which provide EU endorsement to the fur industry”, but the animal lobby’s current focus on fur does not worry Mette Lykke Nielsen:
“It is exactly because of many years’ pressure from the surrounding society the European fur sector is way ahead on animal welfare. We welcome the decision of the European Commission to include fur animals in the next EU hub for animal welfare expertise in Europe. It stresses that EU holds fur farming in high regard because we are working professionally with animal welfare, and we are demonstrating this with the ongoing implementation of our science-based animal welfare programme WelFur. The animal lobby has worked intensively to prevent fur from being included in the reference centre. It appears to me that by doing this they reveal their intentions are guided by ideology rather than a genuine wish to improve animal welfare,” Mette Lykke Nielsen says.
The purpose of the EU reference centres for animal welfare is to gather existing scientific knowledge and contribute to the dissemination of good practices on animal welfare in the EU. The scientific and technical expertise of the centres are to be used to carrying out studies and developing methods for animal welfare assessment and –improvement.
Other Stories In This Issue
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WelFur gets stamp of approval by the European Commission
Jan 16, 2019
by SusFur_Admin
The European fur sector’s animal welfare programme WelFur has been endorsed by the European Commission as a Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation Initiative. It is the first animal welfare programme ever to be promoted in the Commission’s databaseof so-called ‘soft law’ initiatives.
“The European Commission does not promote whitewashing, so it is a recognition of the credibility of WelFur and it shows the fur industry works responsibly with animal welfare and society,” Mette Lykke Nielsen, CEO of Fur Europe, says. Fur Europe is the umbrella organisation for the whole value chain of the European fur sector.
Amongst other things, the Commission’s description of WelFur reads: “WelFur is a science-based, practical and reliable on-farm assessment systems as an instrument to monitor and improve welfare and demonstrate, in a transparent way, good animal welfare practices.”
All programmes promoted under the Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation Initiative must go through an evaluation process in which the programmes are assessed against a range of principles, including stakeholder participation, transparency, reliability, feasibility and legal compliance.
Consequently, programmes promoted under the Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation Initiative are quite often the backdrop for binding legislation, and this is the very purpose for Fur Europe.
“Fur Europe supports the idea of taking binding animal welfare legislation to the next level, whether this is at national or EU levels. WelFur assesses the animals rather than the housing system. It is dynamic and future-proof, and it comes with serious sanctions towards non-complying farmers. If someone looks at fur animal legislation, there is real no reason to look elsewhere, because WelFur is exactly what animal experts recommend,” Mette Lykke Nielsen says.
WelFur is developed by independent scientists at seven European universities, and is being implemented on 3.500 European mink and fox farms in the period 2017-2020.
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Young People to Discuss Sustainability at Fur Summer School ’19
Apr 17, 2019
by Vladislava Gospodinova
Fur Europe's flagship youth project, the Fur Summer School, returns for a fifth time to take 26 young people on a journey across the fur value chain and enable them to understand how fur fits with slow fashion and sustainability.
Entitled “From Waste to Gold,” the summer school takes place in Kastoria and Siatista in Greece each year, at the very heart of the oldest fur hub in Europe. It brings together young people with various backgrounds keen to explore fur from multiple angles such as craft, sustainability, design, business models, ethics, marketing and communication.
Combining both theoretical and practical exercises with visits to fur-related facilities, the Fur Summer School enables young people to foster entrepreneurship skills and connects with established fur business.
No better place to start this journey than a region with a 1400-year history in fur. Kastoria and Siatista are home to thousands of skilled fur practitioners and manufacturers who continuously reinvent the ways to use fur in fashion.
However, the region is not solely about manufacturing. Farmers in the nearby farms take care of the animals day today, while dressers and dyers make sure pelts are processed sustainably and with care of the environment. A bio-plant turns the waste from farms into electricity and other resources so that nothing is ever wasted. This way the loop of production closes to form the perfect circular economy, which is the engine of the region. This behind-the-scenes experience allows young people to learn about fur from farm to fashion.
The Fur Summer school will take place between 23 August - 1 September. Participants don't need any experience with fur. The only requirement is a deep interest in the topic of fur and sustainability and a desire to learn. Find out all the details about the application process here.