Animal advocacy organization Loomus started a campaign “I’m on the side of ani-mals!” to support the attempts to ban fur farming in Estonia. For the first time in Es-tonia, 20 local celebrities publicly stepped up against fur farming.
The basis of the campaign is a photo series of celebrities with pets. On the photos, celebri-ties have written the reasons they support the ban. The photos include musicians Ardo Ki-vi, Elina Born, Kadi Toom, Kaido Põldma, Kallervo Karu, Lenna Kuurmaa and Tõnu Tru-betsky, actors Ivo Uukkivi, Jim Ashilevi, Kristjan Sarv, Loore Martma, Nero Urke and Maria Avdjuško, film director Veiko Õunpuu, screenwriter Margit Keerdo, DJ and record store owner Madis Nestor, writers Kalle Kurg and Jaan Kaplinski, stylist and fashion designer Karolin Kuusik.
From April 2013 until April 2014, 9000 Estonian people voted for the ban of fur farming. However, in March this year, a regulation that legalizes collective petitions came into force. According to the law, at least 1000 signatures in support of legal amendments have to be collected for the petition to be submitted to the parliament for discussions. Therefore, a new petition that can be signed only with an ID-card was set up: http://petitsioon.ee/karusloomafarmid
“Both we and all the 9000 signatories are on the opinion that fur farms are inherently un-ethical,” Kristina Mering, representative of Loomus told. “Furthermore, in farms, animals lack a possibility to live their inherent lives. In farms, it is not possible to provide necessary conditions for the animals to guarantee their welfare. Animals are being confined in cages and treated inhumanely for vanity and glamour.”
According to Mering, the discussions over banning fur farming have intensified also else-where in Europe – about ten countries have either partially or fully banned fur farming. De-bates on parliamentary level are currently being held in many nearby countries such as Finland, Poland, Belgium, etc. “Fur farms are entirelly banned in Great Britain, the Nether-lands, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. Fox farms are banned in Sweden and Denmark. So-me of the German federal republics have banned fur farming on their territories,“ Mering explained.
Campaign photos were first published on May 14 in the most popular Estonian weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress. The photo series will be aired in cinema Sõprus in Tallinn be-fore the film screenings. The photos will also be displayed in the cinema Sõprus hallway and at the Von Krahl Theatre in Tallinn. From June 16 until July 18, the photo exhibition will be open in the pedestrian tunnel of the Tallinn Freedomn Square.
Loomus aims to protect the rights of animals and represent their interests in social dis-cussions. Loomus is mainly concentrating on the interests of animals used in fur farms, intensive farming, entertainment and laboratories.
Photos (author: Krõõt Tarkmeel): https://loomus.ee/wp-content/themes/loomus/images/Karusnahakampaania.zip
Campaign videos in YouTube: htt-ps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJVZXYJASdZKcKuqnOJqaA/videos