The Finnish state is paying fur farms more than 50 million euros in compensation for animal culls ordered to prevent the spread of bird flu last year.
On Thursday, the government’s ministerial finance committee approved a proposal by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to exceed a previously earmarked amount in the state budget by 45.2 million euros.
Of this amount, 44.4 million euros will be paid to fur farms, while 800,000 euros will be paid to compensate for pigs ordered to be killed due to salmonella infection.
The Food Agency had estimated the amount needed based on compensation applications and the value of the animals at the time.
Reimbursements to be paid out by summer
Based on the Food Agency estimate, 50.7 million euros will be paid in compensation for culled fur animals. Just over six million of that amount has already been paid as advance compensation from the 2023 allocation.
The funds ran out last year, so more compensation could not be paid.
Last year, evidence of bird flu was found on 71 fur farms. All animals in those facilities, some 485,000 in total, were ordered to be put down.
Terhi Laaksonen, head of the animal health and welfare department at the Food Agency, said that decisions on farmers' compensation applications are now being fast-tracked.
"We'll start sending out compensation decisions to applicants in March,” she said. "The goal is to have the compensations paid to the fur farms by summer."
MPs to weigh fur farming ban
Parliament is to consider a citizens' initiative calling for a ban on fur farming, after it received more than the required 50,000 signatures in just one day last autumn.
In a survey published by the daily Helsingin Sanomat in November, more than 80 percent of respondents said they opposed fur farming in its current form in Finland.
Fifty-six percent of respondents supported a complete ban on fur farming as soon as possible or with a transition period of several years. That figure was up from 45 percent a year earlier.
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