Former British Fur Trade CEO supports a ban

Twenty minutes into the interview, former CEO of the British Fur Trade Association Mike Moser and I were staring at each other, raw-eyed. We had just watched footage of mink and foxes, some of them very young animals, struggling to survive in bare cages, on wire floors - in order to be slaughtered for their fur. The grief and pity that each of us was feeling was mirrored in the face of the other.

Late in August, I was asked by animal charity Humane Society International/UK to interview Moser for a short film to support its #FurFreeBritain campaign. It’s a powerful story to play a small part in.

In 2018, Moser, then CEO of the British Fur Trade Association resigned after a decade of defending the fur industry. Now, he has come out in support of a UK ban on fur sales because he no longer believes fur can be produced humanely.  He is now publicly supporting HSI/UK’s #FurFreeBritain campaign. 

Between 2008 and 2015, when he also worked for the International Fur Federation, Moser visited fur farms on five continents, where he witnessed caging of mink, foxes and raccoon dogs in countries as diverse as Denmark and Finland, China, Russia, and Latvia. He says that, regardless of the country of origin and any associated welfare regulations, the basic cage-based model of fur farming is systemically cruel.

“I spent ten years working for the fur trade, and I saw the reality of fur farming,” he say. “Over time, I realised that whatever soundbites we devised to reassure consumers, retailers and politicians, neither welfare regulations nor any industry certification scheme, would ever change the reality of these animals being stuck in tiny wire cages for their entire lives.

Like many people working to improve and save the lives of animals caught up in the food, fur, entertainment and testing trades around the world, Moser’s journey was spurred by his companion animal Barney, a Labrador. “I would come home to Barney, who I loved dearly, and realise that he wasn’t that much different in size to some of the animals I saw languishing on fur farms,” says Moser. “The thought of him being treated like that was just unthinkable. I felt a complete hypocrite.“

His growing doubts solidified during TV and radio debates with HSI/UK’s executive director Claire Bass, during which he began to feel he was “defending the indefensible.” “On a number of occasions, I was in media debates with Claire and my job was to counter her claims, but increasingly I found I agreed more with their messages than I did my own. I no longer had the conviction that what I was doing was right  - defending what is indefensible. One of my main regrets is that I didn't leave earlier. “

After he resigned, he met with HSI and, in conversation, realised he shared many of their views. “I agree fully that the fur trade is out of time,” he says.

Moser addressed MPs and Ministers at a No Business In Fur virtual event for HSI/UK earlier this month. “It is universally accepted that the ability to exhibit natural behaviour is a fundamental tenet of good animal welfare,” he says. “It is disingenuous of the fur trade to claim that mink and foxes bred over generations are now domesticated. It is still the instinct of a fox to hunt, to play and to dig and of a mink to swim and hunt. But even if that were true, our dogs and cats are domesticated but we wouldn’t dream of keeping them in those conditions, it’s just not right.” 

Moser is now a part-time consultant for Humane Society International/UK, using his knowledge and experience to support the charity’s #FurFreeBritain campaign for a UK fur sales ban. In 2000, the UK announced a ban on fur farming in Britain but didn’t stop the import and sale of fur from animals farmed overseas. Since the ban came into effect in 2003, almost £800m of fur has been imported into the UK from fur farms in France, Italy, Poland, China and other countries. In 2018 alone, almost £75m of animal fur was imported into the UK. Based on pelt auction prices HSI UK estimates that this equates to some 2 to 3 million animals.

“The fur trade is anachronistic,” says Moser. “It still fails to recognise that social attitudes towards animals have changed dramatically, that we understand much more clearly sentiency and what constitutes good welfare. The zeitgeist today is that caging and killing animals for an unnecessary fashion product, that has only vanity value, is unacceptable. The UK banned fur farming two decades ago but, as long as we import and sell fur from overseas, the UK still supports fur farming and trapping by proxy. That’s morally and politically ambiguous, and that’s why I support a UK fur sales ban.”

He is not alone. A new YouGov opinion poll, commissioned by animal charity Humane Society International/UK, reveals that 93% of the British population never worn fur, or no longer wear it, and the majority (72%) support a ban on the sale of fur in the UK. During my 13 years as fashion editor at Metro, I never allowed fur on the page. There seemed something inherently wrong in treating a life as simply the source of another textile. And that was before I found out about the extent of cruelty in the trade.

“British people and politicians take pride in being a nation of animal lovers, and so it doesn’t surprise me that it was Mike’s love for his dog Barney that was at the heart of his epiphany that caging and killing animals for their fur is wrong,” says Bass. “If the idea of locking a pet dog in a cage for life and then electrocuting and skinning that animal for fur is unthinkable, then it’s not a big leap to feel similar empathy for animals like foxes who endure this cruelty on fur farms. I fully respect Mike’s change of heart, and he now has an important and powerful message for the UK government. If someone like him with a decade’s experience inside the fur industry says it’s right to ban fur sales, then it’s time to take action and end the suffering.” 

The Early Day Motion 267 urging the government to introduce legislation banning the import and sale of real fur products has so far been signed by 126 MPs, including Tracey Crouch, Maria Eagle, Dr Lisa Cameron and Tim Farron. 

Fur facts:

• More than 100 million animals are killed for their fur every year worldwide including mink, fox, raccoon dog, chinchilla and coyote. That’s about three animals dying every second, just for their fur. Rabbits are also killed, likely to be in the hundreds of millions. 

• Fur comes with a hefty environmental price tag. Whilst all materials have some eco-footprint, when compared to other textiles, fur takes a significant toll in terms of the C02 emissions associated with keeping and feeding tens of thousands of carnivorous animals on a farm, the manure runoff into lakes and rivers, and the chemicals such as chromium and formaldehyde used to preserve the fur and skin to stop it from rotting.

• An increasing number of fashion designers and retailers are dropping fur cruelty. In the last few years alone Prada, Gucci, Armani, Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and other high-profile brands have announced fur-free policies. In addition, online fashion retail platforms Net-A-Porter and Farfetch have introduced no-fur policies.