The fur farm investigators from Nettverk for dyrs frihet is aquitted from the claim from the fur industry. The fur industry’s attempt to silence the fur farm investigators failed in the district court, but the court gave the fur farm investigators a suspended sentence for wrongfully entering the farm. 

See the images the fur farm investigators are convicted for: photo and video.

After four fur farm investigators documented severe violations and animal abuse at a farm belonging to a fur farm leader, the industry responded by reporting them to the police and claiming economic compensation. 

Todays conviction acquits the fur farm investigators from the economic claims, which the court unanimously denied as unfounded. 

– The economic claim has been an attempt from the fur industry to stop the revelations from our fur farm inspections. It’s a victory that the fur industry did not prevail, and the courts decision shows that the economic claim was unfounded, says Rune Ellefsen, one of the fur farm investigators from Nettverk for dyrs frihet.
The investigators from Nettverk for dyrs frihet is now considering whether to appeal the parts of the judgement which convicts them for burglary. 

Considering to appeal the suspended sentence
– It´s both rightfully and justified that the court dismisses the fur industry’s economic claims. But it is also wrong to convict us from intervening against animal abuse, even if this is happening behind closed doors. We have documented serious and cruel animal abuse and violations of the animal welfare act. We believe that it if you have the right to smash a car window to save an animal, the emergency law must also apply to animals suffering in the fur industry. We are therefore considering to appeal this part of the verdict.

Will continue to work towards a ban against fur farm
The fur farm investigators will follow up on the verdict with the one thing the fur industry fear the most: more transparency about what happens to the animals in the fur farms. 

– The life in the fur farms is a life filled with suffering, injuries and compulsive behaviour. The fur industry is trying to prevent us from exposing this to the public.  We are responding by inviting more people to expose the images from the inside of the fur farms. Our first response is a to share a video in the social media, which already has 250.000 viewings. We will show the fur industry that their efforts to silence the four fur farm investigators only leads to an even stronger commitment to the fight for a ban on fur farms, says Ellefsen.

The backdrop for this case was an unannounced inspection in a farm in 2013, which belonged to a fur farm leader in Rogaland. The inspection revealed cruel conditions for the animals: Animals with large, untreated injuries, dead and alive animals being held in the same cages, and animals who attacked and injured each other. Instead of reacting to the violations, the industry chose to report and claim compensation from the four investigators from Nettverk for dyrs frihet which had documented the conditions. 

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More about the case at www.pelsvarslerne.no

Watch the video about the fur industry’s efforts to silence the investigators