Illegal trespassings and secret filmings violate farm hygiene regulations

FIFUR has been informed that five fur farms in Finland allegedly had been invaded and secretly photographed in the course of 2022. FIFUR has received a video clip via AFP news agency, and FIFUR has studied the content of the clip.

As a policy, FIFUR examines trespassings and media claims thoroughly before giving statements to avoid any speculations.

Of the five alleged farms, 4 are member companies within the scope of FIFUR.

Three producers do not recognize any animals from the secretly filmed video, and the structures of the shade houses do not match the ones on their farms. One producer may recognize one silver fox, which in the video has clearly been frightened by flashlights from photographers, and the intrusion has caused stress on the animal.

FIFUR has no information where and when the animal images on the video were taken. In the past, animal activists have, in FIFUR's view, presented images that were even years old and edited falsified outputs.

The 4 farms in question are well-managed, certified fur farms where producers take care of their animals. FIFUR’s veterinarians have inspected and will inspect this week the member farms that were subject to the alleged secret filming.

The video clip received by FIFUR also contained a drone-taken aerial image of a certified, well-managed fur farm. The animals on the farm are not shown in the video. According to the entrepreneur, it is scandalous that animal activists distort and suggest that the farm is somehow connected to animals shown on the video. It isn’t.

The farm is located in the immediate vicinity of a wind turbine. This raises the question of whether the photographers have followed rules when flying close to wind turbines.

General statements regarding secret filmings and trespassings

In general FIFUR emphasizes that secret filming and the selective use of images tell nothing about the level of animal care and welfare on the farms. In general, responsible farmers treat their animals as soon as they become aware of any health issues. Trespassers will not know whether the animal has received treatment or at what stage the healing process is. Moreover, all operations in the farms are strictly controlled by national laws and regulations.

• In general, there can be as many as tens of thousands of production animals on the farm and, despite careful care, individual animals can be injured or get ill between rounds of inspection and feeding. If you think of a city of 10,000 inhabitants, for example, some inhabitants are likely to have, for example, a sudden outbreak of an eye infection or wound.
• FIFUR sees intrusions and secret filmings as a widely organized campaign aimed at creating a false image of the fur industry and making it more difficult to do legal business.
• It is also important to notice that the people involved in the secret filming and trespassing farms at night cause stress and possible disruptive behaviour among animals through their actions.
• The intruders also cause an acute animal and zoonotic disease risk when trespassing the farms. The activists always violate farm hygiene regulations.
• FIFUR comments that parties engaging trespassings against a legitimate source of livelihood obviously do not know or seem to care about the safety precautions related to animal diseases. They think that their actions will benefit the animals but, since they are clearly not familiar with fur animal breeding, they end up doing exactly the opposite.
• Responsible fur farmers consider reporting these criminal intrusions to the police.

Background: Link to Press Release on trespassings in summer 2020. FIFUR shares same statements now too:

https://fifur.fi/en/ajankohtaista/artikkeli/invaders-posed-risk-spreading-infectious-diseases-several-fur-farms-july

Additional information:

Johanna Korpela, Senior Veterinarian FIFUR, +358 50 4648834, [email protected]

Olli-Pekka Nissinen, Communications Director FIFUR +358 50 3062374, [email protected]