At the Tuesday meeting of the Sejm Extraordinary Commission for Animal Protection, the first reading of two projects on the prohibition of animal breeding for fur will take place. Animal rights defenders pay attention to inhumane conditions, industry representatives calculate losses.
The project on a ban on breeding animal for fur filed in the Sejm by MPs KO, Polski 2050 and Left introduces an absolute ban on breeding and breeding fur animals except for the rabbit from January 1, 2029. The second, submitted by PiS deputies, confederation and Kukiz'15, assumes the introduction of a 15-year transitional period.
According to the project, submitted by MPs from the ruling coalition groups, Breeders will be entitled to a claim to the State Treasury for compensation for the property loss resulting from the prohibition. The amount of compensation depends on the average annual breeder's income from the last three years and the date of termination of the activity. The later the activity is completed, the lower the compensation is to be.
The opposition project does not provide for a mechanism of compensation, but only by postponing the provisions, according to which entities and farmers, conducting on the day of entry into force of the Act, will be able to conduct it until December 31, 2039. However, new permits will not be issued from the date of entry into force of the Act. In turn, entities with permits, but having suspended activities, will be able to resume it on the same terms as the others.
The introduction of an animal breeding for fur has long been postulated by corruption organizations. Viva Foundation Plenipotentiary! Advocate Katarzyna Topczewska in an interview with PAP emphasized that the ban on breeding animal for fur must be introduced as soon as possible. According to her, permission to continue operating until 2039 is unacceptable.
– 4 million mink for fur is killing a year in Poland. We are in the first place in Europe and the second in the world – after China – she emphasized.
In the opinion of an expert, fur farms will never be humanitarian. As she said, these are animals that appear in nature as predators living in extensive areas. “They often have a loneliness mode,” she clarified. She emphasized that when living in farms, in crowded, tight cages, they are not able to implement their natural, basic genre needs.
“No farm will give these animals even a minimum of well -being,” she pointed out.
According to the lawyer, animals suffer not only through the way they live, but also to killing methods that can be ineffective. – In matters that I run in court, I watch movies on which the inexperienced foxes escape from the table, although they should be dead, and the minks are stuffed in gas chambers, without checking gas parameters and whether the animals put into it have already strangled in it – she said. She added that animals are also killed in front of other individuals who see it, feel and are equally terrified.
70 percent Poles support the introduction of a ban on breeding animals for fur
She also noted that the society has been demanding a ban on conducting this type of activity for years. She reminded that, according to the survey of the Biostat Research and Development Center from July 2024, 70 percent Poles support the introduction of a ban on breeding animals for fur (46.9 percent of respondents answered “definitely yes”; 23.1 percent “rather yes”).
She emphasized that, apart from the suffering of farms, they create adverse living conditions for people. As she said, people living in their vicinity often complain about the unpleasant smell or plagues of flies, and in the area of their property they come across dead animals that run away from breeding. She added that these problems prevent residents from conducting, among others agritourism.
According to adv. Katarzyna Topczewska The Animal Protection Act requires a comprehensive amendment. The most important issues that require changes were included, among others, by the liquidation of pseudo -breeding, the introduction of mandatory dog chipping, improving the conditions in shelters, and sealing expenses for the care of homeless animals, or increasing penalties for animal abuse.
The industry does not want a ban
Industry representatives oppose the introduction of a ban on breeding and breeding of fur animals. In the attached opinions to the project, submitted by MPs KO, Poland 2050 and the left, opposition to the restriction of any agricultural production sector, regardless of the sector, expressed, among others Federation of Industry Unions of Agricultural Producers, Polish Fur Breeders Association or the National Council of Agricultural Chambers (KRiR).
President of Krir Wiktor Szmulewicz in response to a letter asking for an opinion on the project, he emphasized that agricultural self -government is against the introduction of a ban on breeding or breeding fur animals. He justified his position by the fact that farms specializing in this field, adapting to the planned regulations, would incur significant costs. He also emphasized that the demand for fur still remains high, and the closing of Polish breeding could cause that the demand will be satisfied by entrepreneurs from other countries.
The Committee of Zootechnical Sciences and Aquaculture also drew attention to the broader context of the designed regulations. “The ban on breeding fur animals in the European Union with the still existing demand will inevitably result in an increase in fur production in countries with a lower standard in the field of animal welfare. Animal defenders should be aware that this situation will lead to deterioration of animal maintenance. Therefore, the solution to the problem requires a comprehensive approach, which takes into account both the well -being prepared for both projects.
At the same time, they noticed that due to climate warming, the demand for fur will expire in the long run.
The committee also mentioned a number of economic dependencies. He pointed out, among others, that fur animals are a natural “utilizer” of animal by -products arising in the production of food, so after the introduction of a complete ban on breeding of fur animals from the meat industry will have to pay to plants dealing with industrial utilization. “This will probably result in an increase in the costs of food production of animal origin, and thus also higher prices for these products,” we read in the position. (PAP)
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