Group protests fur farm in Guelph-Eramosa

A group of about 15 people protested outside a fur farm on the Fourth Line in Guelph-Eramosa on May 28.

Members of the Kitchener Ontario Animal Liberation Alliance (KOALA), as well as members of the public, held a weekend protest from May 26 to 28 at a number of farms in Ontario, seeking an end to fur farming.

“We’re here today to protest the Ted Parkinson Fur Farm,” said KOALA organizer Malcolm Klimowicz.

“We’ve seen undercover video footage from many fur farms around Ontario and you can see the animals are cramped in tiny wire cages.”

Klimowicz said the mink are overcrowded, have piles of excrement under the cages and troughs filled with urine, which KOALA says constitutes animal cruelty.

He hopes the weekend will raise awareness of the approximately 47 fur farms in Ontario. He is asking supporters to sign the group’s petition on its website or contact their local MPPs.

Gary Hazelwood, executive director of Canada Mink Breeders Association, said in a press release mink receive “excellent” nutrition and care on Canadian farms.

“If some people don’t want to eat meat or wear fur, wool or leather, that’s their right, but we hope they can respect those of us who make different choices,” said Hazelwood.

One protester, Nicole Sapalovski, said she hopes the group’s presence will pressure the government to allow the animals to be freed in a lawful way.

“Just to have the folks who own this hellhole know that we’re here and that the pressure is going to be put on the government to acknowledge that these animals are suffering and that they are beings and they deserve rights, just like you and I,” said Sapalovski.

Nancy Daigneault, vice president of the International Fur Federation, stated in an email, “the picketers are extremists,” adding the industry and farmers have been targeted recently.

Over 300 mink were released from a nearby Guelph-Eramosa farm in the summer of 2015. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility.