LONDON – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom has ditched fur, news that has been warmly welcomed by #FurFreeBritain campaigners at leading animal charity Humane Society International/UK. The fur-free move was announced by Angela Kelly, Her Majesty’s personal advisor and senior dresser, in an interview with Vogue magazine. Kelly told Vogue, “If Her Majesty is due to attend an engagement in particularly cold weather, from 2019 onwards fake fur will be used to make sure she stays warm.”
Humane Society International/UK runs the #FurFreeBritain campaign for a UK ban on the sale of real animal fur. The United Kingdom, which was the first country in the world to ban fur farming on ethical grounds in 2000, still allows imports of animal fur from other countries such as Finland, Poland and China.
Claire Bass, Executive Director of Humane Society International/UK says “We are thrilled that Her Majesty has officially gone fur-free. Queen Elizabeth’s decision to “go faux” is the perfect reflection of the mood of the British public, the vast majority of whom detest cruel fur, and want nothing to do with it. Our Head of State going fur-free sends a powerful message that fur is firmly out of fashion and does not belong with Brand Britain. The UK banned fur farming almost two decades ago because it was deemed too cruel, now we must finish the job and ban fur sales too. We are calling on the British government to follow Her Majesty’s example and make the UK the first country in the world to ban the sale of animal fur.”
HSI’s petition calling for the UK government to ban UK fur sales can be signed here: www.hsi.org/FurFreeBritain
Fur facts:
• In 2016 the value of fur imported into the UK was £55.6 million. A provisional estimate of the number of animal skins that equates to in that year is approximately 2,000,000
• Britain imports and sells the fur of a variety of species, including fox, rabbit, mink, coyote, raccoon dog and chinchilla. Fur imports from dogs, cats and commercial seal hunts are banned across the EU, and HSI wants those existing bans extended to protect all fur-bearing species.
• Since the United Kingdom banned fur farming on ethical grounds in 2000, more than a dozen countries in Europe, including Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway, have legislated against the practice. In June this year the government in Ireland agreed to phase out fur farming and the Slovak National Council approved a ban on fur farming in October. Legislation to end the practice was presented to the Bulgarian parliament earlier this autumn.
• Several cities in the United States, including San Francisco, West Hollywood and Los Angeles have all introduced fur sales bans and the state of California just passed a ban on the sale and manufacture of fur last week.
• In addition to the physical and psychological torment of being confined in small, barren cages for the animals’ entire lives, the killing methods typically used on fur farms are equally distressing. Mink are killed by gassing, and fox and raccoon dogs are killed by electrocution.
• An increasing number of fashion designers and retailers are dropping fur cruelty. In the last two years alone Prada, Gucci, Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and other high-profile brands have announced fur-free policies. In addition, online fashion retail platforms Net-A-Porter and Farfetch have introduced no-fur policies.
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Media contact:
HSI UK: Harriet Barclay, HBarclay@hsi.org, office: +44 (0)2039767962 mobile: +44 (0)7794354596
