Millions of dogs and cats in China are being bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets. This fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores.

Eight years ago the Humane Society of the US sent an investigator into China to determine how extensive the trade in cat and dog fur was.  It turned out that a staggering two million cats and dogs were being kept in cruel conditions before being skinned alive, strangled or stabbed for their furs and skins.

Undercover investigators have documented warehouses filled with dog and cat skins, waiting to be shipped to the US, Russia and the EU. The merchants bragged that they could fraudulently label any item to confuse consumers, dye it to appear as though it was faux fur or not label it at all.

The US banned the import, export, sale and production of cat and dog fur in 2002. With the loss of the US market, sales have shifted to the EU to make up for lost revenues. Cat and dog fur has been found readily on sale in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In Dec 2003, the European Parliament approved by a large majority a written declaration calling on the EU to ban the import, export, sale and production of cat and dog fur.

A majority of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers have also called for such a ban.  Despite this and the strong public outcry to get rid of this stuff the European Commission has failed to act.

Dog and cat fur can be found as lining in ski boots and gloves, trim on parkas, full coats, covering sleeping cat figurines, as hair bows (dyed to look like faux fur) and a host of other items - including some dog chew toys. There is no labeling law.

In an undercover investigation in Belgium, a dealer bragged that while most of his furs came from China, some might actually come from dogs and cats that were stray, lost or even farmed in Belgium.

Asian merchants have stated that they would give up the business immediately if there was a ban rather than risk high end exports being banned as a punishment. They do this only because there is no law prohibiting it.

PETA went into an animal market in Southern China and found cats and dogs languishing in tiny cages, visibly exhausted. Some had been on the road for days, transported in flimsy wire-mesh cages with no food or water.

Twenty cats were forced into a single cage. Because of the cross-country transport in such deplorable conditions, our investigators saw dead cats on top of the cages, dying cats and dogs inside the cages, and dogs and cats with open wounds. Some animals were lethargic or frightened, and others were fighting with each other, driven insane from confinement and exposure.

Up to 8,000 animals are loaded onto each truck, with cages stacked on top of each other. Cages containing live animals are commonly tossed from the top of the trucks onto the ground 10 feet below, shattering the legs of the animals inside them. Many of the animals still had collars on, a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions, stolen to be made into fur coats.

What You Can Do...

Avoid all fur products. Without extensive testing, it is impossible to be sure whether a fur product is made from dog or cat fur. Furthermore, the trade in fur, whether it be cat, dog, or any animal is cruel.

Tell everyone you know about the trade in dog and cat fur. Once people understand that these garments, trims, and figurines are the product of the brutal slaughtering of dogs and cats, they won't want to buy them. If the market disappears, manufacturers will stop making the products.

Raise awareness at department stores and gift shops. A store manager may not know that some of their merchandise may be made of dog or cat fur. Tell store managers about the global trade in dog and cat fur and about the ban on dog and cat fur products in the United States, Australia and parts of Europe. Ask them to discontinue the sale of all fur items in their stores. Provide the store with some background on the issue.

Bring attention to the sale of these products in your community. Write letters to the editor of the local paper. Contact your local television news station and ask them to do an investigative report.

Be a fur detective. Click here to find out how and be sure to report any suspicious items to Fur Free Liverpool

Write to your MP and MEP: Writing letters does seem boring but it really does work by cumulative effect.

Find who your local MP is at: http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/
Find who your local MEP is at: http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm

For an EU Ban write to:

Commisssioner Markos Kyprianou
Commissioner for Consumer Affaris
The European Commission
Rue de la Loi
B-1049
Bruxelles

For a UK Ban write to:

Ian Pearson MP
The Minister of State for Trade
Investment & Foreign Affairs at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA