Dog & Cat Fur Farmed in Belguim

[Guest guest]

Dog and cat fur farmed in Belgium

 

Andrew Osborn in Brussels

Friday May 9, 2003

The Guardian

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,952148,00.html

 

Cats and dogs are being farmed in Belgium for their fur, which is then

used to make blankets, coats and gloves, according to evidence released

yesterday.

Videotaped footage of Belgian furriers explaining how the secretive

trade operates was gathered by undercover investigators working for the

American campaign group Humane Society International.

 

One of the furriers is clearly heard to claim that cats are farmed in

Belgium. Another says that stray cats and dogs, including lost pets, are

rounded up on the streets of Brussels and Ghent and slaughtered.

 

The evidence was presented at the European parliament by a cross-party

panel of MEPs.

 

The British Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson held up a rug which he

said was made from four golden retrievers. He also displayed a coat

purportedly fashioned from the pelts of 42 alsatian puppies, and a

figurine of a cat which DNA tests had shown to contain cat fur.

 

Farming for cat and dog fur was known to take place in China and the Far

East but until yesterday there was no evidence of it on EU soil.

 

MEPs called for a ban on the sale of the products, which remain legal

throughout the EU apart from Italy.

 

They also claimed that in many cases consumers were unaware of exactly

what they were buying because goods were falsely labelled.

 

The goods are sold throughout Europe.

 

" It's not only happening in Europe, " said Mr Stevenson. " It's happening

right under the noses of the EU institutions. "

 

 

ENDS...

 

--

Dave Neale

Animals Asia Foundation

 

Find out more about the historic China Bear Rescue by visiting the

Animals Asia Foundation website at http://www.animalsasia.org