Italian protest against dog-fur coats

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Italian protest against dog-fur coats

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2645853.stm

 

Friday, 10 January, 2003, 18:08 GMT

 

Animal rights campaigners have demonstrated outside shops in

northern Italy after a DNA test showed that the hoods of winter

jackets on sale at several major stores are lined with dog fur.

 

The activists, who staged a demonstration in front of a popular

Turin store where one of the jackets was purchased, say that similar

items can be found across the country.

 

Big chains should pay more attention to what they are selling

 

Italian Anti-Vivisection League spokesman

 

They maintain that major chains, as well as small retailers,

continue to sell coats, hats, gloves and toys manufactured with cat

and dog fur.

 

The sales are said to be taking place despite a ban on the import

and sale of the pelts issued by the Italian health ministry early

last year.

 

'Misleading labels'

 

The management of one store, La Rinascente, said the certificate

from its supplier identified the fur used as " Murmansky (Nyctereutes

Procyonides) " , or raccoon dog - a wild canid originally from eastern

Siberia, northern China and Japan.

 

 

Campaigners say these hoods are trimmed with dog fur

A second store, Carrefour, voiced " surprise " , adding that, according

to its supplier, the fur used for the lining was raccoon. However,

it said it would withdraw the suspect garments to carry out further

tests.

 

But Italy's Anti-Vivisection League (LAV) says that consumers are

misled by the lack of information on the garment's labels, and by

the use of invented names such as " gae-wolf " , " sobaki " and " Asian

jackal " for dogs, and " wildcat " and " goyangi " for cats.

 

" Too many garments carry no labels. We do believe in the retailers'

good faith, but such big chains should really pay more attention to

what they are selling, " Maria Falvo, a spokesperson for LAV, told

BBC News Online.

 

Asian breeding farms

 

According to the Humane Society of the United States, which has

carried out a large undercover investigation in Asia over the past

few years, some Chinese manufacturers have admitted they would

attach any label to the garments to make them more marketable.

 

The US organisation estimates that about two million dogs and cats

are slaughtered in Asia each year and used in the clothing industry.

 

In China, Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea, cats and dogs

can be raised at large breeding farms. There have been persistent

allegations that they are put to death in inhumane ways.

 

The pelts are then sold to fur traders, and dog meat is usually sold

to restaurants.

 

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and

translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies

and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.