Tick the box that you agree with this statement.

FOUR PAWS UK will strongly disagree with all six statements. You can use the following points to help inform your response:

• Fur farms of mink and foxes keep these animals in cramped conditions for their entire lives, only to be inhumanely slaughtered for their fur.
• An ‘assurance scheme’ refers to certain schemes such as Furmark and Welfur. These schemes try to promote the myth of sustainably sourced fur, and animals in these schemes are still kept in cramped cages and inhumanely slaughtered through methods such as anal electrocution.
• Trapping and hunting animals for their fur causes immense distress and suffering to the animal, often being caught in cruel traps for hours or even days.
• A ‘conservation scheme’ refers to hunting quotas in the UK. These are not an effective means to control wildlife populations, and thus “hunting animals for their fur as part of a conservation scheme” does not promote actual conservation of UK wildlife.
• Fur produced as a ‘by-product’ of legal meat farming is often the actual product that makes the farm economically viable. Example: Rabbit farms in the UK where there is little to no demand for the meat from the public, but the fur fetches a very high price.
• Similarly to farms, fur as a ‘by-product’ can be the reason that makes it economically viable to hunt or trap the animals in the first place.

This question is where you can convey your attitudes and opinions about fur in GB. Questions you could consider in your response include:

• Without a ban on fur sales/imports, is the UK supporting the fur farm and hunting industry of other countries, and thus the doomed lives of countless foxes, mink and raccoon dogs?
• How would you feel as a UK citizen if our Government listened to, or ignored, the 1 million signatures demanding a fur ban that were handed in to Downing Street back in April?
• As a consumer, how do you feel about real fur sometimes being mis-sold as fake fur on the high street? Do you think shoppers have a right to be able to buy clothing without the possibility of buying real fur by mistake?
• Do you feel pride or anger at the UK’s role in the fur trade?
• We banned fur farming here in the UK back in 2000, yet will still support farms across the globe by importing and selling fur here – is that right?
• Recent figures from DEFRA show that in 2019, the UK imported a whopping £52,911,000 worth of fur! What’s worse, over 60% of this fur was then sold to other countries. How do you feel about the UK using the deaths of animals for their fur as a money maker rather than because of public demand?

• Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Serbia, Macedonia, and just last week, Estonia, have all legally banned fur farming.
• In 2018-2020, Europe saw France, Slovakia, Belgium, and Norway all commit to legally banning fur farming, with set transition periods of five-six years for existing farms.
• Due to such strict animal protection laws, fur farms in Switzerland no longer exist as they cannot meet the high standards set.
• Proposed legislation to ban fur farming is currently being considered in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland and Ukraine.
• West Hollywood is the first city in the world that decided to ban the sales of fur in 2011. The ban came into force in 2013, when the value of fur sales in West-Hollywood was estimated at two million dollars annually.
• Israel has become the second country in the world to ban the import and sale of fur.

With this question, you may want to consider and express the following:

• Whether you feel the UK would be applauded internationally for becoming the second country in the world, following Israel, to ban the import and sale of fur (following the example set by the US state of California).
• How you feel about the UK Government’s ambition to be a "world leader in animal welfare" and whether, in your view, a fur import and sales ban would help it deliver on such a pledge.