A new poll released today by Insights West has indicated these revealing attitudes.
In Atlantic Canada, the capital of fur-farming and a major trapping region for the entire country, a whopping 68 per cent of residents oppose killing animals for their fur. The region is also where the annual seal hunt takes place – and only 44 per cent of residents there support it.
Both of these industries are heavily subsidized by provincial and federal coffers, and their marketing agents point to them as major regional economic drivers. Why do the residents who should be benefitting financially have such a clear distaste for these industries?
"The commercial seal hunt benefits very few individuals financially, so it's not surprising that even in Atlantic Canada – where most of the hunt occurs – almost half of respondents said they were opposed to the seal hunt,” we were told by the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s seal expert Sheryl Fink. “The millions of taxpayer dollars being spent to keep this dying industry alive could be put to much greater benefit for fishermen in rural communities."
The same is quite true of the massive industrialized fur farming that the industry so proudly indicates as an economic force. Despite the millions in incentives, subsidies and tax breaks fur farms have received in recent years, very few individual families directly benefit. In fact, the fur farms have a negative consequence on far families by the escapees (who harass or kill livestock on other farms), or the water and ground pollution (that seeps out from the massive waste created at farms).
It’s time for the subsidies and handouts to end. It’s time for the government to listen to the majority of Canadians, not the fringe few who want to make an easy buck. It’s time to #MakeFurHistory.
Work like our growing #MakeFurHistory campaign is only possible with the support of monthly donors. Please consider become a monthly donor – for as little as $5 a month – and help us create a Canada where we can proudly say we were part of the change to #MakeFurHistory.
