Issue and Opponent: Annually more than 32 million animals are slaughtered in the European Community alone for the fur trade. Since 2007, countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands have been banning fur farms, as well as increasing their regulations regarding animal protection. The fur industry annually claims the lives of 20 million wild animals hunted in traps and 40 million animals raised on farms. All of them are cruelly skinned before, during, or after their death because fashion and consumers require it. Europe produces 70% of the world’s mink fur and 63% of fox fur. In Spain, 400,000 minks are bred in captivity each year. Although there is no official census, there are about 50 farms in Galicia – where 80% of the minks are raised – and 20 in the rest of the country. These animals have an average lifespan of 6 months, compared to the 6 years they would live in the wild.
Dilemma Action: On January 12, 2020, Animanaturalis, a nonprofit group focused on ending the suffering of animals across Spain and Latin America gathered to protest the use, production, and sale of fur in Spain. A total of 50 members of the organization participated in this naked demonstration on a cold Madrid morning. The group wanted to compare the animal’s fur and the clothes that we use to stay warm as both are the individual’s protection from the elements. It is also important to note that this action took place outside of department stores on Preciados Street, which are prominent sellers of furs and other forms of animal skins. This is part of a bigger campaign called “Sin piel” (no skin in Spanish), which organizes naked protests around the different cities that still have animal fur farms in the country.
Outcome: Despite many other countries in the European Union banning fur selling, Spain continues to be one of the main producers of big fashion brands. There are still fur farms in certain regions of the country, especially in Galicia and Catalonia. AnimaNaturalis is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that works for the defense of animals in Spain and Latin America, and they keep organizing campaigns. They also work doing research, public denunciation of practices that violate the basic rights of other animals, and the promotion of agreements and alternatives for more respectful coexistence between humans and other animals.