Protesters demand closure of mink farms in Bulgaria over Covid-19

A protest in Sofia on December 9 demanded mink farming ban because of Covid-19. It brought together representatives of animal welfare organisations, led by the National Citizens' Initiative to ban fur farming in Bulgaria.

The protesters called on immediate closure of the only working mink farm in the country, in the city of Stara Zagora, with about 130,000 animals. They insist that the state ensure that it does not allow outbreaks and new mutations of the virus in mink farms; ban the establishment of new farms and speed up the review of the draft law on the banning of fur farms.

They have submitted an official letter to the Council of Ministers, expecting the issue to be discussed at a cabinet meeting.

Petya Altimirska, from the initiative to end fur farming in Bulgaria: We want this activity as a whole to cease to exist because of all the damage it causes not only to animals, humans and the environment. It has also been rejected by society - 3 years ago we collected over 51,000 signatures in support of banning the killing of animals for their furs. In these sites minks are bred only for the furs.

images by Dessislava Kulelieva