Prague, Nov 6 (CTK) – Several hundred activists, wearing animal costumes, participated in a march against fur farms in the centre of Prague yesterday.
Next week, the Chamber of Deputies is to start debating an amendment to the law on protecting animals and preventing cruelty to them that would ban fur farms.
Breeders of minks and foxes for fur have rejected the amendment.
Participants in the march, organised by the Picture-Animal Protectors association, carried banners with slogans against fur animal breeding.
The march started on the Strelecky Island, crossed Old Town Square and ended on Wenceslas Square after 16:00. It blocked traffic at some places, but no serious incidents occurred.
The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech parliament, will start dealing with a bill to ban fur farms in the first reading on Tuesday.
Picture association chairman Marek Vorsilka said he hoped that legislators would pass it.
The government has taken a neutral stance on it.
Under the draft legislation, new fur farms could not be opened as of 2017 and the existing ones would be shut down by the end of 2018. The ban would not apply to rabbits that are not primarily bred for fur.
Minks and foxes are most often bred for fur in the Czech Republic. Furs from some 20,000 animas are annually processed.
The number of fur farms has long been decreasing in the country. At present, nine farms are run in the Czech Republic with a population of 10.5 million, compared with 26 in 2000.
