Fw: Dog & cat fur at Rainforest Care

[Guest guest]

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" Kim Bartlett, Publisher, ANIMAL PEOPLE " <anpeople

" Dr John Wedderburn " <john

Tuesday, 26 June, 2001 01:57

Fwd: Dog & cat fur at Rainforest Care

 

Rainforest Cafe has not responded to this, they have had two weeks, and I

think it is time they heard from a few more people:

Sun, 10 Jun 2001 03:33:26 -0700

c/o http://www.rainforestcafe.com/RFC/ContactUs.asp

" Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE. " <anmlpepl

Dog & cat fur

I had the pleasure of eating at the Rainforest Cafe on Saturday

Night, with ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett and Swathi Buddhiraju,

hospital manager for the Visakha SPCA in Visakhapatnam, India.

Afterward we made several purchases at the gift shop.

 

However--aware of the worthwhile conservation work that the

Rainforest Cafe funds, and aware also that it has a longstanding policy

against the sale of items made from animal fur--we were unpleasantly

surprised to discover that the Rainforest Cafe is now selling refrigerator

magnets imported from China which are made from cat, dog, and rabbit fur.

 

We believe the fur content of these items may have eluded your

notice. They may also have been misrepresented to you by the importer or

wholesaler. Nonetheless, the use of animal fur may be verified by either

of two quick and simple methods: burn a small sample and sniff, and/or

present the magnets to a dog or cat, and see whether the animal responds

with interest.

 

We have seen these items before at other shops, and note that

they were prominently identified by a December 1999 expose produced by the

Humane Society of the U.S., first reported by Dateline NBC and the Today

Show.

 

We also have direct personal familiarity with the production

methods, having visited China, Hong Kong, Korea, and the Philippines

within the past six months in connection with our own investigations of the

dog meat and cat meat industries.

 

Do not confuse these industries with the standard practices of

agribusiness. They are not merely engaged in the slaughter and butchery of

animals most often seen in the U.S. as personal companions.

 

There is a widespread belief in China and Korea that dog meat is more

medicinally potent if the dog is tortured to death; videotapes have

repeatedly captured details of a process including flogging, slow hanging,

and dehairing by blowtorch.

 

There is also a widespread belief that the residue from a cat who

has been boiled alive has value in treating the infirmities of age,

especially in women.

 

Finally, apparently because the authorities prefer to pretend that

these practices no longer occur, the dog and cat meat markets appear to be

utterly uninspected. On May 19 of this year, for instance, Kim Bartlett

and North Shore Animal League animal care specialist Tammy Kirkpatrick took

92 photographs at one major market, while I took notes, documenting

extensive abuse and neglect even in routine aspects of caging. Cats, for

instance, were packed into cages as tightly as they would fit, several

layers deep, so that the cats on the bottom suffocated in the heat and live

cats were forced to lie on top of their decomposing remains.

 

We can send you copies of the photos, should you require them--but

we hope that having been alerted, you will act expeditiously to remove

these fur items from sale, and to alert all other Rainforest Cafe branches

that they too may be carrying items produced by means of extreme cruelty,

which most of their customers would find offensive.

 

Thank you,

 

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original

investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992.

Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than

8,300 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or affiliation

with any other entity.]