CZECH REPUBLIC, 23 JANUARY 2016 –  A recent poll showed that the majority of the population in the Czech Republic is in support of a ban on fur farming. The poll was conducted by the Czech Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM). Naděžda Čadová, CVVM analyst, says:

“The Czech Republic public is convinced that fur farming should be banned. In the current research, which CVVM conducted on a representative sample of 1 054 respondents over 15 years, 70% of the respondents is in favor of a ban.”

The survey showed that 78% of the citizens of the Czech republic opposes the killing of animals for their fur. Tereza Bílá, campaign assistant of Against Fur – a campaign led by Czech Fur Free Alliance member organisation Freedom for Animals (Svoboda zvířat) – adds:

“The vast majority of the Czech population wants to put an end to the systematic animal cruelty in the fur industry. Unfortunately this view is not represented by politicians in the Czech Republic. During a meeting of the Agricultural Committee of the Chamber of Deputies last November it became clear that members of the Agricultural Committee consider the serious animal welfare problems in the fur industry as a marginal problem and unfortunately did not show any willingness to improve the situation.”

Currently, there are 10 fur farms in the Czech Republic holding around 10 000 animals, of which mainly foxes, mink and chinchillas. Freedom for Animals aims to create awareness about the cruel conditions in which animals are kept and killed on fur farms. Serious animal welfare problems are inherent to fur production and animals on all fur farms have been found to exhibit health issues as infected wounds, missing limbs from biting incidents, bent feet, self-mutilation, cannibalism of dead siblings or offspring and other stress-related stereotypical behavior. General awareness about the extreme animal suffering has caused the majority of European citizens to favor a ban on fur farming and several countries to install bans in recent years.

The results of the poll were presented by Ivana Cabrnochová, senator of the Green Party (SZ), together with Petr Gawlas, senator of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD). Petr Gawlas says:

“The issue of animal protection is very dear to me. Commercial exploitation of animals should not cause animals to suffer extremely or force them to spend their full life in a tiny cage. Civilisation is not only measured by our treatment of other human beings but also by our treatment of animals. We strive to ensure that the Czech Republic will be among the countries that acknowledge and protect the rights of animals.”

Representatives of the organisation Freedom for Animals (Svoboda zvířat) are aware that opinion polls in the Czech Republic unfortunately do not change political attitudes towards fur farming. Lucie Moravcová, Freedom for Animals, says:

“We would like to ask all citizens who are not indifferent to the suffering of the animals to express their opinions actively. Besides the possibility to sign petitions which are available for download on our website, we would like to encourage citizens to actively communicate with their MPs and senators. Write an email, take a few minutes, but it can help stop the needless suffering of thousands of animals.”