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MPs to consider fur-farming petition

A citizens’ initiative calling for a phase-out of fur farming will be submitted to Parliament before year’s end.

Tapio Manninen from Kalajoki
Image: Kalle Niskala / Yle

The proposal is the first to reach the legislature based on a law that took effect last spring, under which any initiative that gathers a minimum of 50,000 signatures must be considered by Parliament.

The fur-farming proposal, which was launched by a consortium of non-governmental organisations, has so far collected 55,000 signatures from Finnish citizens.

After the signatures are verified by the Population Registry Centre, the initiative will be debated in Parliament next year.

The backers say that fur farmers should receive subsidies for a gradual phase-out of the industry.

Fur farmer Tapio Manninen told Yle he was surprised by the speed in which the petition gained the needed signatures.

“I’m not scared, though, and I don’t believe the initiative has any chance of going through,” he said. Manninen says the sector accounts for 20,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.

Animal protection groups claim that it employs an average of less than one person per farm.

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