Covid-19, fashion and public policy: The dangers of confining wild animals for the fur industry

Abstract

In the current context of the global health crisis generated by the Coronavirus pandemic, it becomes necessary to pay attention to other possible sources of zoonosis transmission, such as the fur industry. For this, wild animals are intensively raised-such as mink and foxes, among others-with the aim of using their fur to make haute couture garments, which are still sought-after in some international fashion centres. Although some countries have for years begun to legislate to put an end to fur farms, as is the case in the Netherlands, the recent outbreak of Covid-19 in one of the last facilities that remain open there has raised a new alert from another front about how to confront the fur industry on a worldwide level. In light of this evidence, and bearing in mind the unprecedented public spending of most countries in a context of commercial paralysis and the fall in GDP at the global level, it has proposed there be, on the one hand, a review of the transitory legal provisions for the closure of the fur industry, and, on the other hand, the urgent implementation of appropriate legislation in those countries that do not currently have standards in this regard, such as Chile and Spain.