The Anti-Fur Society/Misha Foundation
722 Dulaney Valley Road, Suite 172, Towson, MD 21204
THE FUR TRADE IS STILL ILLEGAL
IN THE STATE OF SAO PAULO!
If you saw our alerts last year, and/or helped with our campaign to have the Mayor of the State of Sao Paulo sign into law the bill No.16,222 which would illegalize the fur trade as well as the foie gras, there are some good and bad news. The fois gras part of the bill was suspended, pending a legal dispute by the Brazil National Restaurant Association. It was everyone's belief that the fur trade part had also been suspended. But... GOOD NEWS! We've just learned that while the ban on foie gras remains suspended, according to information obtained at the city of Sao Paulo’s mayor’s office, the fur trade part was not affected by the legal dispute, therefore the fur trade of any sort is ILLEGAL in the city of Sao Paulo. The regulations should take place in the coming weeks, but anyone can start scrutinizing fur stores and reporting the full information regarding offenders to the Mayor’s office. Source: SVB
More good news that you may not know:
About 2 years ago, fur farming was illegalized in the entire State of Sao Paulo.
MORE GOOD NEWS!
PARANA STATE HAS JUST BECOME FUR FARM FREE!
On Monday, February 29th, the Legislative Assembly of the State of Parana, Brazil, have unanimously knocked down a veto to the law draft # 217/2015, which prohibits the creation or maintenance of animals with the sole purpose of extracting their skins in Paraná State Territory. The proposal authored by Green Party Congressmen Rasca Rodrigues, and Felipe Francischini puts the Paraná in the vanguard of animal protection becoming the second state in the country to ban the practice (São Paulo banned fur farms in 2014).
With the new legislation – to be enacted and come into force in the coming days - domestic animals, domesticated, native, exotic and wild are protected. In Paraná, the species most used by the fur industry are chinchillas and rabbits, but squirrels and foxes are also used in a smaller scale. The state is the second largest producer of skin from the slaughter of chinchillas, about 20% of national production, second only to Rio Grande do Sul State.
Members warrant that the ban is necessary to put an end to extreme cruelty practices observed in the creation, the killing and removal of fur coats by the fur industry. They claim that during the creation animals are in cages in poor conditions; killed by electrocution without anesthetic, and in many cases, the animals are still alive.
According Rasca Rodrigues, who is coordinator of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Animals, the new law does not affect the trade balance of the state. "Our proposal is clearly to fight those who raise animals to extract their skins, and with no economic loss, we’ll end this type of atrocities against fur bearing animals, "said the Green Party Congressman.
Penalty to those who break the new law: Farmers who break the new law will be subject to a fine of about US$ 4000 per animal, and if they repeat the offense, in addition to extra fines, their farming license will be revoked.
Click on the banner to read about the sponsor and the law in Portuguese
