The Riigikogu (Estonia’s parliament) passed amendments to the existing Animal Protection Act and Nature Conservation Act on Wednesday.

The act will now prohibit the breeding and keeping of animals solely or primarily for the purpose of fur farming, thereby excepting sheep and rabbit breeders. According to ERR News, 56 MPs voted in favor and 19 voted against the amendments.

“It’s a great day for the thousands of animals who will be saved from a life of suffering thanks to Estonia passing this law,” said Connor Jackson, CEO of Open Cages, in a statement sent to LIVEKINDLY.

According to a 2020 survey carried out by data and business insight company Kantar Emor, 75 percent of those living in Estonia are opposed to fur farming.

Why Has Estonia Banned Fur Farming?

According to the Fur Free Alliance, current European fur farming practices are incompatible with even the most basic animal welfare standards, as well as EU law. Animals typically live in cramped, oppressive conditions and often experience both injury and disease.

Within the context of increasing global environmental efforts, the enormous negative impact of factory fur farms is both unnecessary and incongruous. The industry as a whole creates pollution, reduces biodiversity, and emits greenhouse gases.

Estonia has been discussing a potential ban since 2009, and the overall number of fur farms has significantly decreased since then. Today, the number of animals farmed has fallen from around 200,000 to just under 1,000, as per data from Open Cages.

At the beginning of 2021, the largest fur farm in Estonia (with a peak occupancy of 170,000 animals) announced that it is now empty. The government will issue no new permits for keeping mink and raccoon dogs after July 1, 2021, and will completely prohibit this style of fur farming after January 1, 2026.

The new amendments make Estonia the 14th European nation to ban fur farming. This includes the UK, which has prohibited fur farming for over 20 years but is no longer a member of the EU.

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The Baltic country’s fur prohibition comes after a 2020 survey found that 75 percent of people living in Estonia opposed fur farming practices that killed animals for products. Fur farming has been moved out of practice in Estonia over recent years. The country once had 41 milk farms in 2015, but in June 2020 Estonia claimed that it no longer hosts any operating mink farms. The total number of animal farms has fallen from 200,000 to under 1,000, as reported by Open Cages.

“We celebrate with Estonia today, as it becomes the first Baltic country to ban cruel fur farming,” Executive Director of the Humane Society International / UK Claire Bass said. “And, we congratulate local animal welfare groups on their years of campaigning to get the ban done. This victory provides further affirmation that caging, electrocuting, and gassing animals just to make bubble hats is a business that is on borrowed time. We hope that politicians in nearby Finland and Poland are inspired not to get left behind as Europe turns its back on the cruel and unnecessary fur trade.

The UK first banned the manufacturing of fur in 2003, but since then imported fur from Estonia. During recent years, the UK has worked towards banning fur completely, phasing out its popularity in sales across the country. A poll showed in 2021 that 72 percent of British citizens supported HSI’s FFur Free Britain ban. As Estonia moves to ban fur, it also pushes the British a step closer to completely phasing out fur from its store’s shelves.

“In recent years the UK has imported several hundred thousand pounds worth of fur from Estonia, making us complicit in the caged cruelty,” Bass continued. “But, with the UK government this week launching a Call for Evidence to consider a UK fur import and sales ban… We have a great opportunity to stop bankrolling fur factory farming overseas.”

Estonia first started discussing a fur ban in 2009, but the legislation did not appear in the Estonian government until last year. The new bill makes Estonia the 14th European country to prohibit fur farming, continuing the rapidly growing trend sweeping across Europe.

“It’s a great day for the thousands of animals who will be saved from a life of suffering thanks to Estonia passing this law,” CEO of Open Cages Connor Jackson told LIVEKINDLY. “As the latest country to rid themselves of this cruel industry, it’s more clear than ever that the UK must ban fur imports and what we started two decades ago.”

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