In the wake of its undercover investigation into a chinchilla fur farm in Midland, Michigan, PETA has written to the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), asking that the agency provide some protection for the thousands of animals killed each year on Michigan’s fur farms.

While the MDA offers guidelines for raising foxes and minks, the “Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices for the Care of Farm Animals” does not mention chinchillas or specific killing methods. It is clear from this investigation that fur farms require more oversight and regulation than these guidelines provide. The document states that animals raised for fur should be killed “as quickly and painlessly as possible,” but the MDA does not clarify or enforce this standard.

Although the best thing for these animals would be for people to stop buying fur and fur-trimmed garments, society owes it to the animals currently suffering on fur farms to provide them with a humane death. States that allow fur farms must take responsibility for regulating them and mandating humane killing methods. Left unsupervised, fur farmers are killing fully conscious animals by breaking their necks and causing excruciating heart attacks via electrocution, as evidenced by this undercover investigation.

Please write to the Michigan Department of Agriculture to ask that it regulate fur farms:

Dan Wyant, Director
Michigan Department of Agriculture
P.O. Box 30017
Lansing, MI 48909
517-373-1052
517-335-1423 (fax)
wyantd@michigan.gov