MONTENEGRO, 10 JULY 2019 – Yesterday, the opening of the Make Fur History exhibition took place at the Culture and Information Center ‘Budo Tomovic’ in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica.  The event, co-organised with our local member group Gallop, reveals the reality on fur factory farms and presents the facts about the animals bred and killed for their fur, and shows why the fur industry belongs in the past.

In February 2019, Gallop started a campaign to call for a ban on fur farming in Montenegro which has been welcomed by both the parliament and the government and is widely supported by the citizens of Montenegro. There are currently no fur farms in Montenegro, but the prohibition is meant to prevent fur farmers from neighboring countries, where bans are in place or upcoming, from establishing new farms in the country.

The three-day exhibition aims to inform decision-makers on the negative impact of fur farming on local nature and communities, and shows the extreme animal welfare problems associated with fur farming. Speakers at the opening and roundtable included Dušan Pajović, president of the animal rights organisation Gallop, Maida Šabeta, environmental legal expert, Thomas Pietsch, wild animal expert from Four Paws Germany and Jelena Stevanovic, campaign manager from Freedom For Animals, Serbia.

Pajović says:

“Throughout history, there has always been frames of time where certain social justice ideals would reach mass acceptance. Killing animals for fur has stumbled for a long time against many obstacles – above all the ethical, ecological and economic ones. The “natural” fur industry has finally been beaten, and even the pro-European Montenegro has come to adopt a law prohibiting breeding animals for fur. At this conference, and thereafter,  we will all work together to make fur history – and make it stay in its dark corner.”

The intense battery cage system used on fur farms deprives animals from the opportunity to express their natural behaviour and causes severe welfare problems. International studies have shown behavioral disorders, such as stereotypies, pelt-biting and infant mortality, are highly common on fur farms.

The Make Fur History exhibition was launched last year in the European Parliament by the Fur Free Alliance and Eurogroup for Animals. The exhibition exposes the facts about how real fur is produced and explains why more national bans on fur factory farming are needed across Europe.