Joel Kinnaman Calls For Ban On Swedish Fur Farms

21 April 2015

RoboCop Star Joins PETA’s Call for Swedish Minister to Help Minks Caged and Killed for Fur

Stockholm – Nearly 30,000 people have called for an end to fur farming in Sweden – and now, they’ve been joined by a famous fur foe: Stockholm-born actor Joel Kinnaman, who sent a letter today on behalf of PETA and their affiliates asking Sweden’s Minister for Rural Affairs, Sven-Erik Bucht, to shut down the dozens of mink farms still operating in his home country.

In his letter, the star of The Killing points out that fox and chinchilla farms have been phased in out in Sweden – but minks are still crammed into small wire cages that are covered in with the animals’ waste and infested with maggots. “PETA’s recent video exposé demonstrates that fur farms are living nightmares for animals”, writes Kinnaman. “Dead and dying animals were left to rot in the cages, while many of the living minks suffered from open wounds, often the result of cannibalism or self-mutilation.”

Kinnaman also notes that fur farms take a toll on the environment: a recent study concluded that the climate-change impact of the production of a mink coat was up to 10 times greater than that of a faux-fur coat. “Sweden is known around the world for its ‘green’ credentials”, he writes, “but mink farming is most definitely not green. … Please join Austria, the UK, and other nations by banning all fur farms.”

While 75 mink farms continue to operate in Sweden, a recent poll showed that eight out of 10 Swedes want to see fur farming banned across the country. Banning all fur farms would prevent approximately 1 million minks every year from enduring immense suffering.

Kinnaman joins other celebrities, including Anjelica Huston, Joaquin Phoenix, P!nk, Eva Mendes and Jude Law, who’ve teamed up with PETA or their affiliates – whose mottos reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – to speak out against fur.

Joel Kinnaman’s letter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.