Fur farm visit

On Saturday Morning our Finnish Agriculture professor and Animal Husbandry specialist Teija Ronka took us to visit a fur farm at an undisclosed location near the largest lake in Southern Ostrobothnia.  Once a year fur farms are required to allow visitors from the public to view their facilities, ask questions and get educated about the process of raising fur animals in Finland.  This might seem like a controversial subject to you and I certainly do not intend to offend anyone or attempt to sway your opinion… But I did learn a lot at this farm visit and you might be surprised to hear what I have to say.

Due to past problems with animal activists, these visits require a certain level of security and secrecy.  Each group must provide names of individuals and the purpose of your trip. The morning of this ‘open house’ your group is assigned a farm to attend and must meet a representative at a common location such as a gas station to be taken to the facility. This avoids having to release addresses and risk returning unwanted visitors, but more on that later.  When we arrived at the fur farm, we saw rows of roofed, elevated cages filled with silver and blue foxes.  We were given blue jumpsuits and shoe covers to keep the animals safe from any outside bacteria or pathogen we might have carried onsite. To say the smell was unpleasant would be a grotesque understatement but that’s to be expected.   The ProFur farm we visited specialized in raising foxes, Finnraccoons and minks (at another farm site) for pelts to be sold at auction.  On this 80-hectare farm (which included another location or two in the general vicinity) they have about 80,000 foxes and about 120,000 minks.

Anna Maria, the woman who led our tour, was a Veterinarian who had been working with fur animals for about two and a half years.   She showed us the houses, which are lined with pens on both sides with an aisle in the middle. We walked through a few houses looking at the foxes, taking pictures and asking many questions.  Anna Maria was highly knowledgeable and obviously dedicated to the health of the farm.  The first site there were probably only 6-8 sick foxes with out of the 3.400 in that area.  We visited them and saw that these problems were mainly from eye infections or fights when they were young, mangling perhaps an ear. The sick animals are kept separate from the others and given their own cages.  Bacterial illnesses must be dealt with quickly to preserve the health of the other animals.  Females used for breeding are also given their own individual cages.  Anna Maria trains the breeders to use proper hygiene and animal care.   On average, 5.5 foxes out of a litter make it through to the pelting stage and when they are about 6 months old.  The yearly cycle of fur production can be seen in the images below.

Fur animals are bred and raised in captivity, living in cages of wire mesh to allow their excrement to drop to the ground facilitating cleanliness. The pens comply with animal welfare regulations to keep the inhabitants healthy and comfortable. There is always a bone for each animal to chew on, water through a pipe, some straw bedding above the cages to keep them occupied and they are fed twice a day. Their diet consists of fish, chicken and pig byproduct mixed with grains, vitamins and minerals. This is probably what largely contributes to the smell but has everything the animals need to be healthy. Their diet is strictly monitored and if an animal is not eating regularly, Anna Maria checks up on them and makes sure they are not sick. She handles the animals with her bare hands, never sedating them. If an animal is unruly, she uses restraints but this is usually not necessary.  Out of the hundreds of foxes and raccoons we saw, only a few foxes growled or seemed upset by the unusual amount of visitors. The foxes were very mellow and the raccoons at the adjacent site were hilariously curious.

From an environmental and animal welfare standpoint, Anna Maria says the process is always getting better as research continues.  One of the farmers recently traveled to China to observe their production methods, learning new skills and sharing some of his own. There are many laws and restrictions in Finland involving the location of farms, especially regarding groundwater supplies. Research about the carbon footprint of fur and sustainability is also tweaking the process. Government officials visit farms every two years to ensure regulations are being followed. When I asked for a comparison of Finnish, Russian and Chinese fur farms in terms of best production methods, I received a sensible answer.  China and Russia have poor human rights, why would their animal care be much different?  Valerie Grant, one of the Cal Poly students, also made an excellent point about labor conditions in third world sweat shops which are often times much worse for those workers than for these animals who are fed, sheltered and kept healthy.  Do we care for animals or people first?

There was another group touring the farm while we were there and they were animal rights activists.  We had no idea they were against fur production until the end of our tour when Anna Maria told us.  She was not bothered though, most people who are ardently against the fur industry often have a lot of misinformation about it.  This open house is a good way of showing them what really happens on the farms. They were very calm, standing in a circle with the ProFur representatives asking questions and making statements.  It was very interesting to see how differently this conflict was carried out than it would be in America.  These protesters were not emotional or attacking, they were having a conversation expressing what they thought about the fur industry.  That is not to say there are not extremists out there; there have been problems with groups freeing the fur animals at night, hence the secrecy of farm locations. Without ever having learned the skills to fend for themselves in the wild these animals die within days of being released.  Luckily this group was civil, petitioning for a ban on fur farming by 2025 in Finland.  However, if it is outlawed here, the slack will just be picked up in foreign countries that do not regulate production as well as Finland does.  I couldn’t help but notice the heavy leather jacket worn by one protester and leather boots and belts worn by a couple members of this group.  Didn’t an animal die to make those as well? Granted, they might have also put a hamburger on your plate, which these fur animals do not.  Tough the leftover carcasses are not wasted; they are used in feed for other fur animals.   They don’t feed animals their own kind and the byproduct accounts for less than 4% of the feed. 

What is my opinion?  I probably wouldn’t ever buy a fur coat because I’m lucky enough to live in sunny California, fur coats are very expensive and I think they’re a little tacky.  I might wear something lined with fur or having fur trim but probably not an entirely fur garment.  Going to this farm was a unique learning experience and I don’t see fur production being much different than raising other animals for slaughter.  In countries with cold climate and high fashion, fur might be entirely appropriate but I can understand why people might be against raising an animal to kill for fashion purposes.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion! 

Suit up!

Fox houses

ProFur Farmers

Feeding machine

Animal rights activists

Cal Poly students, Jiri (third from the left), Teija (middle), Anna Maria (right)

Very curious raccoons