Video reveals cruel animal killings at Polish fur farm, as Finland devises Covid vaccine for mink

Exclusive: ‘With each day Britain still allows the sale of fur, we are complicit in the suffering,’ says activist

Mink that survived attempts to gas them to death were kicked or beaten to death with a metal rod at a Polish fur farm, investigators say.  

And inside the gas chamber, the animals took “several dozen seconds” to die, footage from secret cameras suggests.

Activists argue the UK is complicit in the cruelty by allowing real animal fur to be imported and sold on items from hood trims and hat bobbles to slippers.

It comes as Finnish fur breeders are reportedly developing a coronavirus vaccine for mink to allow the trade to continue.  

Around the world millions of farmed mink have been slaughtered when outbreaks of Covid-19 have been detected, including all 17 million in Denmark.

The new video, shot at a rural mink farm in Poland late last year, shows men throwing living animals into the box, before their bodies are removed minutes later and slung into a cart. Investigators said some were still breathing but were crushed by the bodies of their companions.

Some that survived were hit with a metal rod or killed by being hit on a wooden joist. Another was killed by being kicked.  

The investigation was carried out by the UK animal-rights group Open Cages and German organization Soko Tierschutz, who hid cameras at a gassing box.

“These poor mink are thrown around like trash, some are beaten or trampled – and the only release from this terror is to suffocate in a gas chamber,” said Connor Jackson, chief executive of Open Cages. “This is yet another investigation that shows the sheer scale of suffering of animals on legally operating fur farms. Animal cruelty is the norm there.”

The recordings show mink in the box “active for several dozen seconds, struggling to get fresh air each time the lid is opened”, the activists said.  

“Fur farmers often say mink are ‘put to sleep’ and that this is one of the most humane methods of slaughter. But gassing is a brutal practice. In addition, it is ineffective and some animals survive,” said Mr Jackson.  

“With each day that Britain continues to allow the sale of fur, we will remain complicit in the suffering of these animals.”

Open Cages has reported the investigation’s findings to the country’s prosecutors.

Poland is the third largest producer of fur in the world, after China and Denmark, but its government has proposed a fur farming ban. The bill has yet to pass through the senate.

However, some European fur breeders are determined the trade will continue. A vaccine providing protection from the coronavirus for mink and raccoon dogs is being developed by the Finnish Fur Breeders' Association in cooperation with the University of Helsinki, Finland’s national broadcaster has reported.

The animal vaccine is currently in the testing phase, and testing is expected to take several months, according to Yle.  

Outbreaks of the virus have so far been found in mink in countries including France, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden, Greece, the US, Canada and Denmark.

In November, the Danish government ordered a cull of the country’s 17 million mink after outbreaks of coronavirus hit hundreds of farms, and authorities found mutated strains of the virus in people.

Environment minister Lord Goldsmith, who has previously described the fur trade as “one of the grimmest of human activities”, has also said that once Britain’s post-Brexit trading relationship with the EU was established, the government could consider banning fur sales.