Joel Kinnaman Calls For Ban On Swedish Fur Farms

The Killing Star Joins PETA’s Call for Swedish Minister to Help Minks Caged and Killed for Fur

For Immediate Release:
April 21, 2015

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Nearly 30,000 people have called for an end to fur farming in Sweden—and now, they’ve been joined by a famous fur foe: Stockholm-born actor Joel Kinnaman, who sent a letter today on behalf of PETA and its affiliates asking Swedish Minister of Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht to shut down the dozens of mink farms still operating in his home country.

In his letter, The Killing star points out that fox and chinchilla farms have been phased out in Sweden—but minks are still crammed into small wire cages that are covered with the animals’ waste and infested with maggots. “PETA U.K.’s recent video exposé demonstrates that fur farms are living nightmares for animals,” Kinnaman writes. “Dead and dying animals were left to rot in the cages, while many of the living minks suffered from open wounds, often the result of cannibalism or self-mutilation.”

Kinnaman also notes that fur farms take a toll on the environment: A recent study concluded that the climate-change impact of a mink coat was up to 10 times greater than that of a faux-fur coat. “Sweden is known around the world for its ‘green’ credentials,” he writes, “but mink farming is most definitely not green. … Please join Austria, the U.K., and other nations by banning all fur farms.”

While 75 mink farms continue to operate in Sweden, a recent poll showed that eight out of 10 Swedes want to see fur farming banned across the country. Banning all fur farms would spare approximately 1 million minks immense suffering every year.

Kinnaman joins other celebrities, including Charlize Theron, Joaquin Phoenix, P!nk, Eva Mendes, Taraji P. Henson, and Penélope Cruz, who’ve teamed up with PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—to speak out against fur.

Joel Kinnaman’s letter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.