Investigators use optical aids as they approach a fur farm in the early hours of the morning, where hundreds of foxes and raccoon dogs are kept. Poland, 2024.
Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals
The only good thing about going to a fur farm is leaving the fur farm. Better yet if you’ve got an extra somebody with you. We came as six and left as seven.

A small fox at a fur farm stands at the back of a bare, wire-floored cage, unable to escape. Poland, 2024.
Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals
Photographer: Jo-Anne McArthur
By all standards, it was a calm investigative night with Anima International, an animal rights organization in Poland. We entered and left without any alarms or alerts.
It was a big farm with long rows of foxes and raccoon dogs. Some despondent, barely moving. Others pacing frantically within their small space. We saw blindness. Infections. Weak and impaired legs from living conditions, resulting in a condition known as “bent feet” (or carpal hyperextension). Faeces were piled high below many of the cages. What a stench to live above for animals with such sensitive snouts. And as with all fur farms, these animals live on a wire floor so that excretions can just fall through. If there’s a wooden bracket supporting the cage floor, animals try to stand and rest, at least with a few of their paws or their backend, on that narrow little beam.

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

A silver fox lies on a bare wire floor inside a fur farm cage. Poland, 2024.
Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals
In the interim cage where Buba (newly named!) would spend a few hours while we slept, she was given a blanket, a rope toy, a bowl of water, and a bowl of food. It was clear she’d never eaten from a bowl, and she had only ever drank from a spout, a standard watering system at fur farms. It was so sweet to see her pick up the blanket with her teeth and pull it around the cage.

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals
We arrived at Jelonki after dark. When we opened her carrier inside the enclosure where she would begin her convalescence, we knew this was her first time taking steps on something firm. Her first time walking in a straight line instead of a tight circle.
There was a little hutch for her to seek refuge in, should she want it, but she chose to sleep in the larger open space.

Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals

Buba, a newly named female white raccoon dog rescued from a fur farm the previous night, eats a big meal from a bowl after arriving at Jelonki Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. This night was her first time sleeping anywhere but in a tiny cage, and she chose to sleep curled up behind a nesting box. Jelonki Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Poland, 2024.
Jo-Anne McArthur / Anima International / We Animals
Poland is currently the biggest fur producer in Europe (second largest in the world). Moves to end fur farming in the country continue, with organizations like Anima International and Fur Free Alliance spearheading efforts to end the industry once and for all. Investigations like this one can can pave the way for fur farming bans across the entire European Union.
Support Anima International’s efforts: Send a message to Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, urging the Polish government to ban fur farming.
Data sources: Respect for Animals / Fur Free Alliance
Photographer: Jo-Anne McArthur
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