“Fur farming is in steep decline. Between 2014 and 2024, the number of animals in fur farms fell from over 140 million to around 20 million,” notes The Doomslayer.
Vox reports:
In just one decade, a longtime fashion mainstay has been relegated to the sidelines of both haute couture runways and bargain clothing racks: fur.
In 2014, over 140 million minks, foxes, chinchillas, and raccoon dogs — a small, fox-like East Asian species — around the world were farmed and killed for their fur. By 2024, that number plummeted to 20.5 million, according to an analysis from the nonprofit Humane World for Animals using data from governments and industry…
The rapid transformation represents a shift in the perception of fur from a luxury good that signals wealth and status to an ethical faux pas.
Covid-19 hastened Europe’s move away from fur production, as mink — the species farmed for fur in the greatest numbers around the world — were found to be especially susceptible to the virus, and mink-associated strains spilled back over to infect humans. Economic headwinds and shifting political dynamics in Russia and China, two of the world’s biggest fur producers and consumers, helped change the course of the global industry, too.
Consumers are more concerned about animal welfare than they used to be. In Sweden, egg-laying chickens are now cage free, even without any legal ban on caging of chickens, because consumers are willing to pay more for cage-free eggs.
The population of Baltic ringed seals has multiplied five-fold as fewer people prey on seals.
