ABC coverage of dog and cat fur issue

[Guest guest]

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2003/s893420.htm

 

Transcript

 

Puppy, kitten fur being sold in Europe

Reporter: Geoff Hutchison

 

MAXINE McKEW: To Europe now, where animal rights

campaigners are warning of a growing trade in what to

many people is a grotesque product.

 

Cats and dogs, farmed primarily in China, are being

turned into furs and dumped on the European market in

huge quantities.

 

A member of the European Parliament is trying to have

the trade banned, but with little success.

 

It's believed up to two million items are arriving

each year and buyers are completely unaware of what

they are purchasing.

 

What's more, there now appears to be evidence that

domestic dogs and cats are being farmed in Belgium.

 

Europe correspondent Geoff Hutchison reports from

Brussels.

 

And we would like to warn viewers, some of the scenes

don't make for pleasant viewing.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: Europe's fur business is booming.

 

Many of the fashion houses and designers who deserted

it in the 1990s are once again enveloping their

customers in fox and mink.

 

Like it or not, it is legal and it's licensed, which

is more than you can say for some other products

hanging on Europe's racks.

 

STRUAN STEVENSON, MEMBER EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Here,

for instance, is a coat which was bought in Berlin.

 

This is made horribly from 42 Alsatian puppies.

 

It's a full-length fur coat, and the it cost a

considerable amount of money, it's made in China, no

Chinese markings but no label on it at all to indicate

that it's dog fur.

 

It's been DNA tested in the university of Amsterdam

and confirmed this dog fur.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: Struan Stevenson is a Scottish

conservative member of the European Parliament and the

man leading the political charge against the trade in

dog and cat fur.

 

A trade based primarily in China which he says is

dumping 2 million pelts into Europe every year.

 

STRUAN STEVENSON: I'm a farmer, you know, I've seen a

lot of blood and I've seen a lot of things with

animals in my time.

 

I'm not a softie when it comes to this.

 

But I love dogs and I love cats and I just cannot

stand this kind of wanton cruelty.

 

(Shows photographs) These are cages with six dogs

stuffed in a cage being unloaded outside a

slaughterhouse in China.

 

Here's a cage full of cats, and they're all heading to

be strangled with pulls, with nooses on the end.

 

Here the skins, here's the basin where the skinning

material is placed, and these are these poor dogs

within minutes of being slaughtered.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: With the help of animal welfare

investigators, Struan Stevenson has collected some

grotesque product lines being offered to European

customers.

 

This rug is made of the fur of four golden retrievers

and was bought in a shop in Copenhagen.

 

STRUAN STEVENSON: Often these are reared in the cold

north of China so the fur becomes more lustrous.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: He wants these products banned.

 

The World Trade Organisation won't do so on animal

welfare grounds but he says this is consumer fraud.

 

STRUAN STEVENSON: People wouldn't buy cat and dog fur

products if they knew it was cat and dog fur.

 

In the European community, most people have cats and

dogs in their homes.

 

These are companion animals.

 

The trouble is they don't know what they're buying.

 

These things are on sale in every country in Europe.

 

I bought this one in Scotland, in my own country, I've

seen them in the duty-free area at Malagar airport.

 

These have been tested, DNA tested and bizarrely these

little cat figurines are made out of dog.

 

They're killing dogs to make little cat toys.

 

Of course the labels will describe this either as a

mythical animal, like sabaki, gay wolf, Asian jackal.

 

Things that don't exist.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: But the European Commission isn't

responding very enthusiastically to his demands.

 

BEATE GMUNDER, EUROPEAN COMMISSION SPOKESPERSON: We're

checking the rules on imports.

 

We've said to member states that if they want to they

can ban it for imports and Denmark and Italy have done

so.

 

We're also checking our own labelling rules.

 

But obviously at the moment we have Mr Stevenson again

and again making these allegations but we haven't seen

any proper evidence.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: How about this?

 

An undercover video shot by a Humane Society

investigator who came to Belgium in February posing as

a buyer of cat furs.

 

He was enthusiastically welcomed and shown an

extensive range.

 

SALESPERSON: That's also cats.

 

INVESTIGATOR: That's very nice.

 

And you make this?

 

SALESPERSON: Absolutely.

 

We make it summertime when we don't have too much

work.

 

This is from China, from somewhere in the region.

 

INVESTIGATOR: So you buy from China?

 

SALESPERSON: We buy from, yeah, from everywhere.

 

INVESTIGATOR: Have you been there?

 

SALESPERSON: No, we have people who buy it for us,

it's English people who are buying there for us.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: Not only did the investigators reveal

a thriving trade, they were also told not all the cat

and dog farms are in China ... they're in Belgium too.

 

Family pets and strays being rounded up for their

furs.

 

INVESTIGATOR: Where do these skins come from?

 

SALESPERSON: Belgium.

 

INVESTIGATOR: Are they farmed or just collected like

strays?

 

SALESPERSON: I think these particular ones have been

farmed.

 

INVESTIGATOR: Farmed, right?

 

Here in Belgium?

 

SALESPERSON: Yes.

 

In the town.

 

In Brussels.

 

Cats run around, too many cats, they catch them and

then they kill them.

 

INVESTIGATOR: So they're not anybody's pet cat?

 

SALESPERSON: No, but you never know.

 

GEOFF HUTCHISON: In the face of mounting, often

compelling evidence, the European Commission continues

to argue that cats and dogs are not being farmed for

their fur in Europe.

 

Despite concern about cruel practices in far-away

countries, there seems little willingness either to

follow the United States lead and outlaw the trade.

 

Pet lovers here might do well to keep their best

friends on a short leash.

 

MAXINE McKEW: What a ghastly story.

 

Geoff Hutchison reporting from Brussels.

 

And that's the program for tonight.

 

We'll be back at the same time tomorrow.

 

But, for now, goodnight.

 

 

 

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http://www.animalsasia.org/ http://www.linisgobyerno.org/special_projects.htm

 

 

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