Małgorzata Tracz announced that the project was to be presented to the marshal's staff on Friday. The Green Party politician and KO club MP emphasized at Tuesday's press conference in the Sejm that one of her election promises was to submit to the Sejm a bill banning fur farming during this term. The MP pointed out that work on this project lasted over two years and that representatives of the “Open Cages” association and the “Viva!” foundation, which deal with animal rights, participated in them.
The bill on this matter was placed in the parliamentary “freezer”
Tracz recalled that a draft amendment to the Animal Protection Act on this matter had already been submitted in the previous term of the Sejm, but – as she recalled – it was then placed in the Sejm “freezer”. She emphasized that this project was updated at the turn of 2023 and 2024 and is a social contract between the state, citizens and breeders. The MP said what the project entails. “First of all, when this act enters into force, no new fur farms can be established, and after five years, in 2029, all fur farms will be phased out,” she emphasized. Moreover, she added, “the project also provides for compensation for breeders and severance pay for employees.
The MP announced that she was starting to collect signatures for this project among MPs from “the parties forming the coalition on October 15”. “I will collect these signatures until Friday, and on Friday the project will be submitted to the Marshal's staff. I hope that the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, will quickly assign it a form number, that it will quickly receive the committee's approval and will be processed in early autumn this year, and later this year passed,” said Tracz. She also appealed to MPs from the coalition on October 15 to sign the project. “I sincerely believe that thanks to the coalition MPs, this project will be implemented on October 15,” the MP added.
In the opinion of MP Katarzyna Piekarska (KO), who is the chairwoman of the Parliamentary Group of Friends of Animals, present at the conference, “this is undoubtedly a historic moment when it comes to the fight for animal rights in Poland.” “We will finally be able to ban barbarism on fur farms. And I am also convinced that this term of office of the Sejm will be remembered as one that did a lot of good and improved the fate of our smaller brothers,” Piekarska emphasized.
“The bloody business of fur traders”
The issue of fur farms in Poland has become popular in the media since September 2020, when one of the portals published the report “The bloody business of fur farms”. Shortly after its publication, the president of Law and Justice, Jarosław Kaczyński, announced the so-called five for animals, i.e. a draft law providing for, among others, a ban on breeding fur animals, the use of animals for entertainment and show purposes, and a restriction on ritual slaughter. However, the project sparked protests from farmers. Ultimately, the then government of Mateusz Morawiecki withdrew from further proceedings on the project.
In 2020, there were 810 fur farms operating in Poland, most of them – 263 farms – were located in the province. Greater Poland. However, as Tracz said, “actually, there are just over 300 of these farms (….) because more and more are closing.” She noted that the fur business is becoming less and less profitable, so – according to her – mainly large foreign, Danish or Dutch companies operate in Poland. The latest official data from the Polish government comes from 2021, when the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was obliged to test minks for infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At that time, approximately 5.5 million were born on farms in Poland. mink, 21 thousand foxes and 4.7 thousand raccoon dogs.
The register of carnivorous farms of the Chief Veterinary Inspectorate from the beginning of 2024 shows that there were 360 such farms, although the activities of some of them have been suspended for several years, and some farms register animals of different species as a separate farm. As part of its response to the European Citizens' Initiative “Fur Free Europe”, the European Commission publishes aggregate data from fur industry organizations. Last year, the EC reported that 234 mink farms and 35 fox farms were active in Poland.
author: Edyta Roś
