To Make More Money, Fur Farmers in Finland Did THIS to Foxes

Shocking eyewitness photographs and video shot on fur farms in western Finland by an animal rights group reveal that arctic foxes are being selectively bred to grow to an enormous—and dangerously unhealthy—size, all so that their pelts will be larger and fetch more money when sold after the animals are killed and skinned. These captive foxes, their faces crowded with rolls of fur and skin, are so overweight that they hardly even resemble wild arctic foxes any longer.

In contrast, here’s a wild arctic fox:

According to reports, some of the captive foxes seen on the farms were roughly five times heavier than they should be and some struggled as they attempted to move inside their tiny cages. Not only were the foxes’ legs often too weak to support their weight easily, obesity also negatively affected their joint and eye health.

You can watch more footage captured inside Finnish fur farms here (English subtitles are provided):

As the photos have been viewed across Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Sweden, pressure has been growing on the government of Finland (where it’s illegal to breed “livestock” in a manner that causes them to suffer) to take action in behalf of these foxes and other animals used for their fur.

While photos of these overweight foxes are certainly shocking, their suffering is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether they’re caught in the crushing grasp of a steel-jaw trap by a trapper or raised on a squalid fur farm, millions of raccoons, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, opossums, beavers, otters, and other animals are killed for their fur every year. So when you see how gruesome the death of just one animal on a fur farm is, remember that it can take the skins of as many as 40 animals to make just a single coat:

You can help us stop this cruelty and create a fur-free world.

The only way to eliminate the suffering of all animals exploited by the fur trade is for retailers to agree not to sell any fur, something that hundreds of major designers and brands—including Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, and Vivienne Westwood—have already done.

You can do your part by always wearing non-animal materials and speaking out against companies that still sell fur. With so many beautiful and warm vegan options readily available today, it’s easy to leave fur out of the closet or showroom. You can sign the pledge to be fur-free, then speak up for animals used for their fur: