A wildlife protection agency has discovered five fur farms operating in Saskatchewan with species like wolves, bobcats, lynx and foxes.
Many people might not know that commercial fur farms are operating throughout Canada. For those that do, they’ll know that minks and foxes are the two species primarily farmed for their fur.
Until recently, virtually no one knew that wolves, bobcats and lynx are also being farmed by the fur industry.
Using freedom of information legislation, The Fur-Bearers, a wildlife charity, has uncovered fur farms operating in Canada that farm three iconic Canadian wildlife species: wolves, bobcats and lynx.
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This shocking discovery sheds light on a dark industry operating in Canada, one that keeps wildlife captive so that their fur pelts can be sold abroad and used in luxury fashion fur products.
Our research found that there is one lynx fur farm operating in Alberta, and five fur farms operating in Saskatchewan housing one or more of these species: wolves, bobcats, lynx and foxes.
While Ontario and Nova Scotia are the largest fur-producing provinces, both home to dozens of large industrial mink farms, Alberta and Saskatchewan are not typically known for fur production.
The discovery of these fur farms in the two prairie provinces adds to the Canadian fur farm industry’s already awful track record.
This includes environmental pollution in Nova Scotia, animal cruelty in Quebec, threats to public health in British Columbia, and tens of millions of public dollars spent to keep the dying industry on life support.
Internationally, Canada will be known as one of the only (if not the only) country that is known to commercially farm wolves, bobcats and lynx for their fur.
A recent review article examined the global fur farm sector and identified 15 different animal species being farmed for their fur in at least 19 countries; the three aforementioned species were not named in this review.
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Canada is on a shrinking list of countries where fur farming is legal and practised. Throughout the pandemic, several countries banned fur farming over concerns of the sector’s public health risks associated with COVID-19.
British Columbia banned mink farming in 2021 over its threat to public health, becoming the first province in Canada to do so. Nearly 20 countries have ended fur farming, and a citizen’s initiative to ban fur farming across the European Union is currently in front of the European Commission.
If this initiative is successful, Canada would become one of the last remaining countries in the world with an active fur farm sector, with the U.S., Iceland, China and Russia for company.
The Canadian public is firmly opposed to fur farming, an attitude aligned with public sentiment towards this practice in many other jurisdictions.
A 2022 public opinion survey found that three-quarters of Canadians would support a national ban on fur farming. Of course, this survey was conducted before the public learned that wolves, bobcats and lynx are being farmed for their fur.
If public opposition to fur farming was high then, support for the practice is about to reach new lows.
It’s time for the federal government to join the international community and outlaw fur farming. It’s what the public wants, what animals deserve and what moral progress demands.
Canada’s iconic wildlife are renowned internationally, but the wolves and other wild animals kept captive on Canadian fur farms stain our country’s reputation.
Aaron Hofman is director of advocacy and policy with The Fur-Bearers, a wildlife protection charity. The Fur-Bearers, formed in 1953, is a non-partisan charitable organization that protects fur-bearing animals through conservation, advocacy, research and education.
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