EU set to ban cat and dog fur from local shops (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

EU set to ban cat and dog fur from local shops

November 21, 2006 4:02 PM

Coat with dog fur A new EU law is set to prevent shoppers in Yorkshire & the Humber from inadvertently encouraging a cruel trade in cat and dog skins.

Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Diana Wallis, has been campaigning for several years in an attempt to highlight the plight of more than two million cats and dogs killed in the Far East each year. Their fur, mostly from China, has been found across Europe in gloves, in fur collars on fashion clothing, and even in children's plush toys.

But now the EU has announced that cat and dog fur is to be banned from being imported or sold in Europe.

Diana Wallis, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, has welcomed the new proposals.

She said: "More than two million cats and dogs are said to be killed each year in the Far East to supply the market with cheap fur used in Europe in things like gloves, in fur collars on fashion clothing, and even in children's plush toys.

"I have had a flood of letters from constituents over the years expressing their horror at this disgusting, cruel and unregulated business. Animals are kept in appalling conditions and are killed in the most brutal fashion, sometimes skinned alive. By shutting Europe's markets once and for all to these products hopefully we have a real chance of stamping out this horrible trade at source.

"For years the European Commission has been telling us that it had no power to act, so it's good news that their lawyers have found a way around the obstacles."

It is currently legal in the UK to import and sell products made with cat and dog fur, it is only an offence to sell these products under misleading names.

The fur brokers often mislabel products to obscure their origin. Cat and dog fur has been sold as fox, rabbit and even wolf . Some is unlabelled or dyed bright colours to appear as fake fur.

The International Fur Association has a voluntary ban on cat and dog furs, but those using fur as accessories, including plush toys, are circumventing this code of conduct.

It is difficult to quantify the amount of fur entering the EU but campaigners estimate that 66 tonnes of cat and dog fur was imported into Britain in 2001.