Although 28 parliamentarians voted for the continuation of fur farming, a historically high number of 25 parliamentarians voted against. Loomus sees this as a positive development as the fur farming proponents won by just a landslide, with only three votes difference. Leading the campaign against fur farming, Loomus announced that Estonia is one step closer to the ban and that the new proposal will be among the first to reach newly elected Estonian parliament in March 2019.

“There is a growing number of parliamentarians in Estonia who understand that banning fur farms is the only solution to protect the welfare of the animals, the environment and the people.” said Kadri Taperson, the manager of Loomus, adding that ”a similar trend can be seen in the entire society and the rest of the world. This is why I can assure that the topic of banning fur farms will not disappear, but become ever stronger”.

Taperson says that preparations for the resubmission of the bill are already underway, and that the election questions are ready for the parliamentary candidates. She is confident that re-initiating the vote will be quite easy, regardless of the next parliament composition, due to Estonia’s regulation that allows NGOs to make a legislative proposal if 1000 digital signatures are collected in favour of the proposal. “It will probably take just a few days to collect 1000 signatures because people support animal welfare and media is open to discuss such an important topic.” Taperson added that only fur farmers and half of the Riigikogu (Estonian parliament) are not yet ready for this decision. “They are holding on to old traditions”, she concluded.

Ainult 3 häält jäi seekord puudu! Aitäh, 25 head riigikogualst kes olid seekord loomade poolt!#FurFreeEstonia #KarusnahavabaEesti #Loomus pic.twitter.com/em82Lha1NA

— Loomus (@LoomusNGO) January 22, 2019

According to the survey conducted by Kantar Emor, 69% of the Estonian population does not support raising and killing animals on farms to produce fur while the international petition to ban fur farms in Estonia has been signed by more than 50,500 people.

Fur farms are already either partially or completely banned in England, Northern Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, the Netherlands, Serbia, Macedonia, Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, German regions Bavaria, Hesse, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Schleswig-Holstein, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, the USA. Bans are currently discussed in Ireland, Lithuania and Poland.

Loomus protects the interests and rights of animals and represents them in public discussions across agriculture, animal testing, entertainment and fur farming.

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