Dog fur trade banned by the EU
Tory MEP Struan Stevenson has finally been successful in his nine-year campaign to get the trade of dog fur and cat fur banned in Europe. The EU imposed ban, Stevenson hopes, will result in China to do something about the slaughter of millions of dogs and cats every year within its borders.
Dog fur and cat fur is used by Chinese manufactures for things as common as the stuffing in children’s toys, as stuffing for coats and gloves. This has led to UK consumers buying imported products containing dog fur without their knowledge.
The trade of dog and cat fur is now illegal in the twenty-seven EU states.
Struan Stevenson began his campaign to get the trade in dog fur banned in 1999. He claims that Chinese manufacturers even use dog fur to stuff toy dogs, that parents buy in the UK for their children without realising that real dogs have been killed to provide the stuffing.
According to Struan Stevenson:
I’m delighted that this is finally the end, as far as Europe is concerned, of what is a barbaric trade.
This ban is a huge victory for the innocent victims – the millions of cats and dogs in China and Asia who have now been saved from gruesome, unnecessary deaths simply to meet demand in the EU.
My hope is that a Europe-wide ban together with the refusal of America and Australia to market such wares, can bring an absolute end to the killing of these animals for their skin.
China must now follow suit if it genuinely wants to belong to the global family of civilised nations. I urge the Chinese authorities to ban this trade and in particular to close down the export of cat and dog skins to Russia.
It’s important to check labels and ensure that you’re not buying any counterfeit imported Chinese products that could have been manufactured causing the suffering of cats and dogs.
