Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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ALESHA Dixon is the latest celebrity to sing out in support of the Daily Mirror’s crusade to ban fur sales in the UK.
The pop star and Britain’s Got Talent judge, 41, has urged the Government to build on our ban on fur farming by blocking imports.
She said: “The fur trade is a cruel and ugly business, subjecting animals to fear and pain for frivolous fashion.
“The UK was right to ban fur farming but as long we keep selling fur from animals overseas, we are still paying for their suffering. I urge the Government to listen to the Furfreebritain campaign and ban fur sales.”
She joins stars and conservationists including Ricky Gervais, Dame Judy Dench and Chris Packham in backing our call with the Humane
Society International.
Last month, we revealed horrific conditions on an Asian fur farm as investigators saw beatings and animals being skinned alive.
Footie pundit Gary
Lineker, 59, took to social media to express his disgust, saying: “Absolutely horrendous.”
Singer Moby, 54, added: “Fur represents the ultimate in animal cruelty and as long as fur continues to be sold in the UK, the cruelty will continue. Let’s have a Furfreebritain.”
Queen guitarist Brian May,
73, said: “This is unsupportable in today’s age. We have to stop importation and trade in fur.
“Some people are buying what they think is fake fur but it is actually real because it is cheaper to treat the animals so badly.”
Singer Leona Lewis, 35, said she supported a ban
“because cruelty to animals needs to end”.
And Dragons’ Den judge
Deborah Meaden, 61, said:
“British consumers really care about animal welfare, so switching to cruelty-free practices isn’t just good for animals, it’s good business. In a compassionate world, there’s no future in caging animals for fashion.”
More than 100 million animals are killed every year for their fur, including minks, foxes, raccoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits. They typically spend their lives in metre-square battery cages. Fur farming was banned in England and Wales in 2000 and in Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2002. Since then, pelts worth £800million have been imported – many from China, the US, France, Italy and Poland. In 2018, almost £75m of animal fur was imported, £5.3m from China alone. Some 72% of Brits disapprove of the killing of animals in what many brand a “cruel and outdated” industry.
And a huge majority of us, 93%, have never worn or no longer wear fur, a Yougov poll found.
Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International UK, said: “The UK was the first to ban fur farming on ethical grounds two decades ago.
“But for as long as we still allow animal fur from other countries to be sold here, we are complicit in that animal suffering. “Polls show the vast majority of Brits detest cruel fur and want nothing to do with it. And with some of the biggest celebrities supporting our Furfreebritain campaign, we’re showing fur is firmly out of fashion.”
You can sign the Daily Mirror and HSI petition at hsi. org/furfreebritain.