Fur animals - WelFur

WelFur is an animal welfare certification programme developed for Fur Europe by well renowned and independent scientists from European universities. The programme includes mink, fox and finnraccoons. Fur Europe represents the entire value chain of the European fur industry including farmers, trappers, auction houses, brokers, buyers, design centers, dressers, dyers, manufacturers and retailers.

The European fur industry’s animal welfare programme WelFur has been endorsed by the European Commission as a Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation Initiative. It is the first animal welfare programme ever to be promoted in the Commission’s database of so-called ‘soft law’ initiatives. For more information please sustainablefur.com

It requires three farm assessments to obtain the WelFur certification. Each farm must receive an assessment visit during each of the three production periods: mating, weaning and pelting. Once the initial certification is complete, the farm will receive an annual maintenance visit - with an annual rotation during the periods.

The WelFur programme includes assessments conducted by Baltic Control® assessors and is based on four principles within animal welfare:

Good feeding
Good housing
Good health
Appropriate behavior

The implementation of the WelFur certification programme began the 1^st of January 2017 and the first WelFur certified furs were sold through the fur auction houses in April 2020. A farm without a WelFur certification when the skins are ready to be sold cannot sell the skins through the auction houses until the farm has obtained a WelFur certification.

If you want to become WelFur certified or have any questions about WelFur certification, please do not hesitate to contact us on tel. +45 39 39 01 35 or by e-mail to cert@balticcontrol.com

Cases

Jøren Ivar Brus Mikkelsen runs his herd of Forest Cattle from the National Park Mols Bjerge. Since 2014, he has been certified by Baltic Control® Certification and has an annual inspection to ensure that the herd meets the certification and the quality requirements that accompany it.

Baltic Control® Certification specializes in sustainability certification of companies in the energy sector.The prerequisite for such a sustainability certificate is that a company is subject to a legal requirement for documentation that affects all parts of the value chain. For example, you must document that your production does not harm or damage natural areas.

”Since January 2009, Baltic Control® Certification has had the task of controlling the Danish pig herds. They are very serious and professional” says Asger Kjær Nielsen, Quality Manager for DANISH Product Standard at SEGES Knowledge Center for Pig Production

“Baltic Control has performed extremely well through a challenging task of assessing annually over 3000 fur farms all over Europe and even in other continents" states Jyrki Sura, Head of WelFur, Fur Europe. .

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