In Finnish here / Suomeksi täällä.

New undercover footage reveals that Finnish mink farmers do not follow the Finnish Food Authority's guidelines on the use of masks and good hand hygiene, therefore risking coronavirus spreading and mutating on fur farms.

Four of the six filmed fur farms are owned by members of the board of the Saga Furs auction company or the board members of the Finnish Fur Breeders' Association FIFUR.

In the videos the workers are close to the animals, moving them and feeding them, but none of the workers wear a face mask. Workers also touch their faces while handling animals.

The videos were shot from outside the fence.

According to the Finnish Food Authority's guidelines, mink farm workers must use a face mask and take care of washing and disinfecting hands. Clean, farm-specific protective clothing and boots must be worn at farms. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued similar guidelines for the prevention of infections, especially in mink farms. According to the videos, fur farmers do not follow these guidelines. Violations have been reported to the Food Agency.

Why are fur farms a serious pandemic risk?

It is still unclear how the coronavirus transferred to humans from bats. The virus is believed not to have spread directly to humans from bats but via an intermediate host. China’s reluctance to conduct an independent inquiry has sparked criticism in the scientific world.

One strong hypothesis is that the virus has been transmitted to humans through mink or raccoon dogs in Chinese fur farms. This hypothesis is supported by how quickly the virus has spread in European mink farms and how easily it has transformed in mink.

Non-fiction writer Risto Isomäki said in an interview with Yle that a coronavirus pandemic could with good reason be called "fur farm fever".

Corona infections have been detected in mink farms in all major producer countries except Finland and China. Denmark, the world’s largest producer, decided to kill all of their 15–17 million mink after virus infections were detected in 200 mink farms and the virus variants generated in the farms had spread to humans. Sweden also imposed a temporary ban on mink farming for 2021, and the Netherlands brought forward a complete ban on fur farming due to corona infections.

Stop Deadly Fur: Sign the petition

END THE CRUEL AND DEADLY FUR TRADE, BEFORE IT CAUSES THE NEXT PANDEMIC 

Fur farms are a ticking time bomb for pandemic disease risk and a disaster for animals. We call on all countries to ban fur farms, and we call on G20 leaders to publicly acknowledge that fur farming must end.

Read and sign the international Fur Free Alliance petition to #StopDeadlyFur