The world’s largest fur auction house says it will close its doors for good within the next three years, in yet another dramatic setback for this cruel trade that contributes to unnecessary suffering and death for millions of animals worldwide each year.

Kopenhagen Fur, founded in 1930, acts as a broker for fur pelts produced in Denmark, where it is based, and around the world. As we’ve been reporting, the past few years have seen steep drops in pelt prices and stockpiles left unsold at fur auctions and against this backdrop, news of the closure appears as imminent as it is welcome.

The announcement also comes on the heels of rising coronavirus infections reported among mink in a number of countries, including Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Denmark last week said it would slaughter all 15 million mink on its 1,000 mink fur farms in the country following concerns that a mutation in the virus that has infected the mink could possibly interfere with the effectiveness of a vaccine for humans—a concern confirmed this week by a report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Netherlands, after killing millions of mink on its fur farms, announced it will move up its deadline to close them all by two years, to 2021. France recently announced it will phase out fur farming. And last month, Israel became the first country to announce it will ban the fur trade.

One U.S. state, California, has already banned the sale of fur products, and earlier this month, the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts, passed a similar ban. With realistic, manmade alternatives to fur easily available, major fashion designers, retailers and consumers are also increasingly turning away from this commodity. Ending the use of fur in fashion is our priority and we are stepping up our efforts to send it, as quickly as possible, into the annals of history.