Croatia Bans Fur Farms

Effective January 1, 2017, Croatia will no longer breed animals for their fur. The ban applies to the last-remaining chinchilla farms—the only animal still bred for fur in the country—and comes ten years after the introduction of the 2006 Animal Protection Act. Croatia’s Ministry of Agriculture announced it would side with animal activists and concerned citizens to enforce the ban, despite ten years of backlash from chinchilla breeders. Television personality Sharon Osbourne—in partnership with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)—was instrumental in bringing awareness to the cruel chinchilla fur industry in Croatia. Last year, Osbourne appeared in a YouTube video where she revealed the cruelty behind the industry, by narrating undercover footage captured by PETA at chinchilla farms in 2014, and urged Croatians to remove all fur from their wardrobes. In December, the last mink farm closed in Japan, marking the end of fur farming in the country.