'Fur trade isn't just a danger to animals – it could cause next horror pandemic'

In Britain, we often describe ourselves as a nation of lovers. My constituents frequently contact me about animal welfare issues, and I share their passion and enthusiasm in wanting to make the better for them. Yet, this is not purely altruism, we would be naïve to ignore the connection between and our human health.

Last month we were reminded of the link between animal and human health as we marked five years since the declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, when a disease jumped from animals to humans and caused devastation around the world. However, despite this we continue to indulge in high-risk practices which increase the likelihood of disease emergence, mutation and spread. I am talking of course about the global fur trade.

As we mark World Health Day (April 7), and reflect on the devastating impact of the pandemic, it is beholden on us all to do everything we can to prevent another disaster like COVID-19, including addressing our abuse of animals.

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Last month I attended an event in Parliament, organised by FOUR PAWS UK, a leading animal welfare organisation, and heard powerful testimony from global public health experts, including Dr Jakob Zinsstag from the University of Basel and Dr Hope Ferdowsian from the University of New Mexico, about the risks associated with fur farming.

We heard how COVID-19 had been identified on hundreds of fur farms and spread between humans and animals, and how the overcrowding, poor sanitation and “physical and mental stress of unnatural living conditions in fur farms” suppresses the immune systems of animals and “creates virtual petri dishes for known and unknown pathogens”.

The takeaway message was clear; for public health we must end the UK’s involvement in the fur trade. As Alistair Carmichael MP, and Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (EFRA) put it at the event, “this is a fight that we can win and we must win.”

Since then more than a dozen public health experts around the world have joined FOUR PAWS to express the their concerns, including Professor Dr Thomas C. Mettenleiter, former co-chair of the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) and Dr Neil Vora, Co-Chair of the Lancet/Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover. They joined others in stating that: “To avoid going through another global health disaster, we need policy makers to take all steps to prevent future pandemics, including by ending involvement in the global fur trade.”

I am proud that the last Labour government heard the public outcry about the cruelty of this industry and banned fur farming in the UK more than two decades ago.

Sadly, despite the domestic ban we continue to see fur products imported and sold on British high streets. For this reason and in recognition of the continued moral outrage of the public, last autumn I tabled a Bill to finally move us closer to achieving a Fur Free Britain.

Those who advocate for animal welfare are often dismissed as ‘bunny huggers’ whose emotional response is at odds with the realities of modern world, but this is a false dichotomy. We know instinctively that this cruelty is wrong, those experts speaking out confirm that our moral outrage is backed by science. As one epidemiologist put it, “we urgently need to improve animal health and welfare to reduce the risk of the next pandemic.” For public morality and in support of our public health, I’m backing a Fur Free Britain, and I hope you will too.