Exposing fur farms in Finland

Brut America

"Death is the best part of their lives."  Arctic foxes locked up in cages, abused and killed for their fur … Brut followed the collective Oikeutta eläimille as they exposed the shocking conditions of fur farms in Finland.  Thanks to Humane Society International.

Transcript

00:00Across there is the fur farm, but a typical farm like that will have hundreds of foxes

00:08in small cages.

00:13There are around 500 or 600 fur farms in Finland.

00:18They kill around 2 million animals every year.

00:25I work for an animal rights organisation called Oikeutta eläimille, Justice for Animals.

00:32Tonight our plan is to visit the fur farm, document the conditions there and try to show

00:39people how animals suffer on Finnish fur farms.

00:52This is going to be a one hour drive from here.

00:55Our plan is to approach from here.

00:57We'll have someone look out from the road to see if the owner comes or if somebody comes

01:02we might have to leave.

01:03The biggest difficulty here is the snow maybe.

01:06It can be pretty deep and there's a small river that we might have to jump over.

01:22In this area there's fur farms everywhere.

01:25There's a fur farm here, another fur farm, fur farm.

01:30It's basically hard to find a place on the map where there isn't one.

01:34It's very concentrated here.

01:39Finland is in a situation where the animal welfare legislation is very very old.

01:44It's from 1996.

01:45Even if the majority of the people in Finland are in favour of a ban, the politicians have

01:51failed the animals.

01:52The farm is here.

01:59Previously when this farm has been visited they've had hugely obese animals suffering

02:05from painful eye infections, deformed legs, all sorts of problems.

02:19We have a kind of a long walk from here.

02:21When we get closer we need to switch off the lights and use the night vision to get closer.

02:33There's about one kilometre left to walk.

02:46It's quite heavy because of the snow, but walking in the snow is really nothing compared

02:51to what the animals have to go through in the farm.

02:54I think it's impossible.

02:57We can't jump over here.

02:58No no no, you need to go down and...

03:01No but this is like a lot of snow, you should go that way.

03:07It wasn't a good idea.

03:11Now you can see where there's water.

03:16Okay that's good.

03:17I think you can go until there.

03:18That's good.

03:19Oh, yeah.

03:20I'm good at it.

03:21Yeah, I think it's a good idea to switch off the lights now when we're getting a bit closer

03:30so that they don't see us coming if they're there.

03:45So we're now just waiting for them to check out that there's no people there.

03:54Yeah, we can walk.

03:58We're putting on the protective single use overalls to prevent any diseases from being

04:10transmitted.

04:11In Denmark, COVID-19 virus was found on dozens of mink farms.

04:18It was mutating there.

04:20The local authorities found that the mutation had been transmitted to people.

04:27When we put animals in cruel conditions, we risk our own health too.

04:41There's animals in there.

04:45These are probably female Arctic foxes.

05:12These animals have been selected by their size.

05:16The bigger the pelt is, the more money the farmer gets when he sells it.

05:20In the nature, an Arctic fox will weigh something from up to five kilos.

05:24And on fur farms, they can be four or five times.

05:32Arctic foxes are animals of the northern Arctic, a vast snow-covered land.

05:40And they have been known to walk thousands of kilometers during one winter.

05:46And here, they don't have any space to follow any of their natural behavioral needs.

05:53It's very difficult for them to move.

05:58The skin of the animal is folding around its face and turning above its eyes

06:05so that the hair in its skin rubs the eye.

06:09They are killed by anal electrocution.

06:12So a metal prod is inserted into the rectum of the animal

06:17and another in its mouth, and it's given electrocution until it dies.

06:22I think death is the best part of the lives of these animals.

06:28Just living in this cage where the animals, you can see there is nothing to do.

06:32This little piece of bone there is everything that is given to this animal

06:37as environmental enrichment.

06:40And this is simply not enough for a wild carnivore animal.

06:51Every time I come to a place like this, I would want to save the animals.

06:55You cannot set them free because they would just die.

06:59They are not capable of living in the wild.

07:02And I find that it's a better help for the animals

07:05if I can use my camera to document their lives here

07:08and hopefully help bring an end to this cruel trade.

07:22These are some of the photos that we took.

07:25And they show that the animals are really obese.

07:30You can see this infection in the eyes.

07:35We will publish the footage.

07:38We are collecting names for the European Citizens' Initiative

07:42demanding a ban on fur farming and the sales and imports of fur to the European Union.

08:00Walking in a forest like this, it's very difficult to imagine

08:04that thousands of animals are suffering just around the corner.

08:13The vast maturity of the fur that is produced here in Finland

08:17is used in collars and trims and even in the top of your hat.

08:23It is sold mainly to China, Russia, but also to some European countries.

08:29If an initiative is able to collect more than a million names

08:33during a period of one year,

08:36the initiative will be considered by the European Parliament.

08:40And they have to give an answer to this demand.

08:44An initiative called End the Cage Age has already been successful

08:48and it is being implemented into European legislation.

08:51However, this initiative didn't include fur animals

08:56even though fur animals are kept in cages.

08:59This is why we are now collecting names

09:02for this Fur-Free Europe Citizens' Initiative

09:06in the hopes that fur farms will also be banned at the European Union level.

09:26End the Cage Age

09:30End the Cage Age

09:34End the Cage Age

09:38End the Cage Age

09:42End the Cage Age

09:46End the Cage Age

09:50End the Cage Age

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