Foie Gras and Fur Imports to Become Legal?

There’s talk that the UK government no longer plan to ban imports of fur and foie gras.

 

Suggested ‘justifications’ include protecting consumer choice and that importing these products won’t lower the UK’s animal welfare standards. One: protecting personal choice is not a good reason to allow abuse. Two: importing things of low animal welfare standards shows support for them which is a bad message. Indeed, this contradicts Britain’s claim that it wants the highest standards in animal welfare.

 

Now, if we’re going to kill an animal for food, the least we can do is give them a happy, healthy, cruelty-free life. Foie gras doesn’t enable this: indeed, it does the very opposite. They are literally sacrificing their lives for our benefit so we should be respectful of that and treat these animals with respect.

 

If an animal is killed, it makes sense to use as much of it as possible. Otherwise it’s a waste and shows little respect for the animals’ lives. Look at what reindeer herders do, for example. They use the meat and hide and even use the tendons to tie things together! Fur farms only farm for fur (obviously) so I can’t support them. However, if things like rabbits were farmed, with duel meat-and-fur purposes, this would be acceptable. This is why leather is acceptable, because the cows are also farmed for meat and milk.