China Activists Welcome Cat, Dog Fur Ban

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China Activists Welcome Cat, Dog Fur Ban

November 21, 2006

Associated Press

 

BEIJING (AP) - China's Foreign Ministry denied Tuesday that torture and cruelty

against cats and dogs was widespread after the European Union proposed a ban on

imports of the animals' fur, and said the country was increasingly aware of

animal rights.

 

Millions of dogs and cats are bred for their fur -- mostly in China and other

Asian nations, according to animal rights activists. The European Union proposed

the ban Monday in all 25 member nations, saying cats and dogs were being kept in

cages and slaughtered in cruel and shocking conditions for their fur.

 

Humane Society International estimates 2 million cats and dogs are killed for

their fur each year, with an estimated 5,400 killed in China each day. A ban on

dog and cat fur has been in place in the United States since 2000, but activists

complain that labeling is not required on items costing less than $150, so cat

and dog fur can be used without consumers' knowledge.

 

Chinese animal rights campaigners welcomed the proposed EU ban Tuesday, saying

it would help pressure the Beijing government to enact better legal protections

for animals.

 

" I think it will help, it's a very important signal to the Chinese government

and there's no way they can't notice it, " said Zhang Dan, vice chairman for the

China Small Animal Protection Association.

 

Zhang and other rights activists say Chinese merchants beat cats and dogs to

death and even flay them alive for their skins.

 

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday that the " torture

and cruel killing of cats and dogs was by no means a universal phenomenon in

China. "

 

" In recent years, our awareness of protecting animals has been on the rise,

especially along with the economic and social development in China and the rise

of living standards, " Jiang said when asked about the proposed ban at a regular

press briefing.

 

To back his call for a ban Monday, Markos Kyprianou, the European Commission's

consumer protection commissioner, showed gruesome videos of dogs being

bludgeoned or cut open to bleed to death, and cats in cages being strangled by

wire nooses.

 

Zhang said she had seen similar videos, including footage of a market in

southern China where live cats were thrown into boiling water to kill them and

prepare them for skinning.

 

Activists say cat and dog fur is mainly used for lining gloves, as trim on boots

and coats, as well on keys chains and to cover animal toys.

 

One Chinese trader said, however, that most exporters would prefer to use

domestic rabbit fur because it's cheaper.

 

" Rabbit is the cheapest fur in China, " said Liu Ning, a trader with Furshion, a

fur import-export business based in north China's Hebei province. " If they are

using cat or dog instead of rabbit, it doesn't make sense economically. "

 

Liu said rabbit skins in China cost $1 to $4, while cat pelts sell for $2 and

dog pelts for $6. More often, cat or dog fur is dyed and passed off as other

types of more expensive fur, he said.

 

Zhang said concerns about animal welfare are growing in China as more people own

pets, but the country still lacks basic legal protections for animals.

 

Poverty and isolation are the main reasons that animals in China are not treated

as well as they are in some other countries, she said.

 

" In rural areas, many people don't know animal rights, " she said. " Animals are

just seen as labor, a family-owned property they can use any way they want. They

think the animals' existence is just for making money. "

 

Liu, the trader, said that getting rid of China's cat and dog fur trade will

mainly depend on measures like the proposed EU ban, which will curb overseas

demand.

 

" If the European Union and American don't like cat and dog fur and don't use

them, then China's businessmen won't produce them, " he said. " But if they use

them, there is a market and they will make them. "

 

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