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Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters
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NS mink industry facing financial disaster December 12, 2014 CBC News Nova Scotia's once booming mink industry has hit hard times in 2014 with a 60 per cent price drop. "With it dropping so dramatically, it may potentially put some out of business," says Dan Mullen president of the N.S. Mink Breeders Association. The prized pelt that costs $50 to produce, sold for $100 last year but is now down to $40 or less. Dan Mullen says this goes beyond the usual ups and downs. "This was so deep and so significant. Once you go below the cost of production that puts a severe strain on the industry," he tells CBC News. The situation is so serious it has triggered more than $20 million in federal and provincial disaster assistance under the Agri-Stability Program. News of Nova Scotia's $9 million payout only emerged Thursday when the Province released its third quarter fiscal update. N.S. agriculture risk manager Peggy Weatherby says 93 of 96 Nova Scotia producers have applied for assistance under the program, which is open to any agricultural sector experiencing a commodity price collapse of 30 per cent or more. Farmers also pay into the program. Mullen says the Nova Scotia industry is being hit by old fashioned economics and a stubborn virus. There is a world-wide oversupply and weaker demand, due in part because a warm winter in China left a big inventory. Secondly, to avoid an Aleutian Disease — an endemic virus that hits black furred minks particularly hard - many farmers are switching to the more resistant but less valuable brown furred variety. Mullen estimates at least 75 per cent of farms have the virus. "It was kind of bad timing. Although more resistant to the disease it brings a lot less money, profitability wise," he said. He predicts some farms won't make it. "We're really in a state of flux right now. We're not sure where its going." It's a sharp reverse for an industry that was once Nova Scotia's leading farm export worth $140 million a year. In January, the first international sales of the latest pelt harvest will indicate where the market is going and whether 2015 is another bad year. It's already facing more stringent - some say long overdue - environmental rules relating to handling of waste. "I would say there are not a lot of positives for the year...I think it will take another year for the world market to turn around," Mullen said. Comment: That such an immoral industry is still supported by government is an assault on all humanity. Citizens have been rising up for years against such atrocities and demanding an end to the slaughter of animals, who have just as much right to live as we do. Using living beings as commodities for capital is obscene. It’s a fundamental injustice that needs to be addressed by the courts, and if it isn’t, we can expect actions to escalate beyond peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience. January 9, 2015 Canada's Government Needs To Stop Providing Subsidies for Fur Wearing fur is sheer ignorance at the very least & at its worst, an out-and-out disregard for the suffering of others. Comment: There are few laws regulating the keeping, handling or killing of cage-raised fur-bearing animals in Canada. The majority of regulations are entirely voluntary and simply reflect the standard practices used to make the most possible profit off of each animal with the least possible amount of input and care. https://thefurbearers.com/faq/fur-industry-claims/fur-farm-regulations December 6, 2020 COVID-19 outbreak declared at mink farm in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. Minks can be naturally infected, and farmed minks can develop clinical illness, according to BCCDC. COVID-19 has spread like wildfire on mink farms in Europe and several states in the U.S. A number of countries have banned fur farming and COVID-19 has led the Netherlands to accelerate their phase-out of the industry. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-outbreak-declared-at-mink-farm-in-b-c-s-fraser-valley-1.5219652 Comment: It’s time for the BC government to transition farmers away from this vile, unnecessary, and barbaric industry. End Fur farming !! |