VIDEO. Warning, unpleasant views! “The minks are so beaten with fists and sticks, beaten against the cages..” Cases of danger have been discovered at the Van Ansem fur farm in Poland

WARNING, THE VIDEO IS UNPLEASANT VIEWS!

An undercover investigation at one of Poland’s largest zoos has documented repeated animal cruelty, including throwing and beating them against cages. This farm belongs to the Dutch Van Ansem family, which also owns the “Baltic Devon Mink” zoo in Latvia, where similar animal cruelty was documented in 2021. The activist organization dzivniekubriviba.lv told LA.lv about this event

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The undercover investigation was carried out by the Polish animal protection organization Otwarte Klatki (Open Cages) in cooperation with an activist who worked on the farm for five weeks and secretly documented the daily life of the farm

The obtained videos show that the workers are brutalizing the animals: the minks are hit on the head and body with bare hands, fists and sticks, as well as being forcefully hit against the metal and wooden parts of the cages and even pushed to the ground with their feet. Workers have been documented grabbing the animals by the tails, sometimes twisting them, and then forcefully throwing the minks into cages or transport carts. The cages were often found to be dirty, full of dust, feathers, and many mink were bleeding profusely.

“Brutal treatment of animals in fur farms is not an isolated case, but a systemic problem. This is not the first time that such a cruel practice has come to light,” commented Bogna Viltovska, director of research at Otwarte Klatki. “This time we have documented animal abuse at a zoo owned by the influential Van Ansem family, which is said to maintain high animal welfare standards as evidenced by certifications such as WelFur. However, the reality reflected in many posts from this farm suggests otherwise,” added Wiltowska.

Katrīna Krieger, head of the “Animal Freedom” association, comments: “What was documented in the Polish zoo is shocking, but unfortunately not surprising. In Latvia in 2021, similar violence against animals was documented at the Van Ansem farm “Baltic Devon Mink”. This contributed to the adoption of the ban on animal breeding in Latvia. We hope that Poland will soon join the countries that have left furs behind.”

Van Ansemi, a Dutch family whose history in mink breeding dates back to the 1960s, established their first farm in Poland in 1991. Since then, they have expanded their operations with farms in Latvia, Romania and the USA. The zoos owned by the Van Ansems are one of the largest in Poland – hundreds of thousands of minks are kept in those narrow metal cages.

Poland is currently the largest fur producing country in Europe and the second largest in the world, after China. Despite the overwhelming support of a majority of Poles for a ban on fur farming, previous efforts to abolish fur farming in the country have been stymied by the fur lobby. However, a new fur ban bill will be introduced in the coming weeks, with a five-year transition period and provisions for compensation for breeders. Otwarte Klatki expects the results of this investigation to serve as a decisive catalyst for the introduction of a ban on fur farming in Poland.

Video from the 2021 study at the “Baltic Devon Mink” zoo owned by the Van Ansem family in Latvia:

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