The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected a claim from fur farmers that the pending ban on fur farming conflicts with their human rights.

The ban on fur farming was introduced in the Netherlands in 2013 and included an 11-year changeover period. In 2014 a lower court found in favour of fur farmers who are furious at being ordered to shut down their companies without compensation.

The state appealed against that ruling and last year the appeal court said the new legislation does take the interest of fur farmers sufficiently into account because of the 11-year changeover period.

Fur farmers then took their case to the Supreme Court which has now upheld the ban again. ‘There is a balance between the fundamental rights of mink farmers and the general interest which is served by the new law,’ the court said in its ruling.

The Netherlands has some 160 fur farms producing five million pelts a year. The sector employs some 1,400 people. The Netherlands is the third biggest fur farming nation in the world behind Denmark and China.