Saga Furs, the major fur auction house owned by the Finnish fur industry, has released a statement announcing plans to lay off all of its staff for a three month period. The company has also admitted that its financial results will again be ‘in the negative’.
The news comes as Saga Furs conducts its fur auction online, having been forced to abandon staging the auction in the usual way due to the global coronavirus crisis.
The online auction is trying to sell the skins of millions of animals raised in terrible factory farm conditions, including 3559808 mink, 537593 fox, 56019 finnraccoon and 25152 sable.
So far the online stream of the auction has showed skins of foxes and finnraccoon constantly going unsold, with no bids on furs at even the lowest price.
With 100% of the fox skins having been auctioned, only 14% have been sold; with 100% of finnraccoon skins offered, only 9% have been sold. Mink furs have only just been made available and are selling at higher rates but at dismally low prices as the auction continues. This is a financial disaster for the fur industry and means many fur farms are in a precarious economic position.
Now the Finnish press have confirmed that Saga Furs are having to temporarily lay-off its staff due to the loss of key revenue. They are also admitting that their financial results for the financial year will yet again be in the negative. Last year the fur trade was plunged into financial turmoil as prices crashed and more fashion houses ditched their cruel product. Saga Furs saw its income plummet. Respect for Animals’ full analysis of this can be read here: https://respectforanimals.org/morally-bankrupt-fur-trade-in-financial-crisis/.
Respect for Animals encourages the remaining fur farmers in Europe to diversify and move away from fur farming, which involves terrible animal welfare standards and little financial reward.
The dire outlook for the fur trade contrasts sharply with the attitude recently expressed in a fur industry propaganda blog, which shockingly described the coronavirus crisis as a ‘small silver lining’ and ‘an opportunity’ for the fur trade, with animal protection organisations unable to mount effective campaigns.
Yet again, fur trade propaganda meets cold reality with humiliating results.
Saga Furs is a fur brand and fur auction house specializing in selling fur from Nordic countries and owned by the Finnish fur industry. A 2015 report by Scandinavian animal advocacy groups Animalia and NOAH detailed the shocking truth about animal welfare problems and negative environmental impacts that make a mockery of Saga Furs’ claims of ‘ethical fur’ and ‘sustainability’.
