Daily Mail 11/20/06: Heather Mills urges ban on pet fur

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Heather Mills urges ban on pet fur

Last updated at 16:12pm on 30th November 2006

 

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Anti-fur campaigner Heather Mills

 

 

Heather Mills-McCartney has made an impassioned plea for an immediate

end to the trade in cat and dog fur across Europe.

 

She flew into Brussels to deliver a 250,000-signature petition -

gathered via her own website - backing calls for the trade to be

banned.

 

The trade blockade is needed to discourage the cruel slaughter of

animals to provide fur for everything from rugs and coats to

figurines, said Mrs Mills-McCartney.

 

An estimated two million cats and dogs are being killed each year in

China to fuel the trade - often boiled alive and skinned to save the

cost of more 'humane' methods of killing.

 

Pressure for a ban prompted the European Commission earlier this

month to propose the move.

 

But now the pressure is on MEPs to keep up the momentum to ensure EU

ministers endorse it.

 

Mrs Mills-McCartney handed her petition of UK signatures to two

campaigning MEPs, Labour's Arlene McCarthy and Tory Struan Stevenson.

 

They vowed to maintain pressure as the Commission's proposal for a

ban runs the gauntlet of the European Parliament and EU Governments.

 

Mrs Mills-McCartney has given the case a high public profile,

promoting an animal cruelty video which recently triggered a Chinese

government pledge to stamp out the trade in cat and dog fur. But the

Chinese authorities say the EU must help by banning the import and

sale of goods using cat and dog fur - everything from rugs and coats

to figurines and trinkets.

 

Perversely, many of the articles are fraudulently marketed as made

from fake fur - because the real origin would put off many customers.

 

Mrs Mill-McCartney said today: " It's a strange person who does not

love a dog or a cat. There are so many items using cat and dog fur

that people are unaware of. It's just so inhumane. "

 

The Commission proposals call for an end to the production, marketing

and trade of cat and dog fur throughout the EU, and the setting up of

a system of information exchange on the detection of cat and dog fur.

 

Mr Stevenson, holding up a floor rug bought in Copenhagen and made up

of fur from four Golden Retrievers, and a cat-skin blanket bought

near Brussels - all sourced from China, said: " These items were on

sale openly, and people are sometimes not aware what it is they are

buying.

 

" America has had a ban on this kind of trade for four years now and

it has been a success. Our job is to achieve the same in the EU. "

 

Ms McCarthy said she was determined to ensure tough legislation was

in place by the start of 2008. The key was good DNA testing methods

to readily identify fur from cats and dogs.

 

" If we feel the Commission proposal is not tough enough, we will make

it tougher. And we need celebrities like Heather to keep up the

profile of this issue until national governments have finally

approved the ban. There is a lot of work still to do. "

 

Mrs Mills-McCartney urged people to look at the footage on her

website of the treatment of cats and dogs being skinned alive for

their fur: " If that doesn't put people off this trade, nothing else

will. "

 

Fifteen EU countries - France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Denmark, the

UK, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Latvia, Austria, Cyprus, Spain,

Poland, and Slovenia, already have laws limiting or banning the trade

in cat and dog fur. They range from banning the rearing of animals

for fur production to labelling requirements identifying the fur, to

complete bans on the trade in goods using such fur.

 

The EU ban would automatically apply in all 27 -from next year - EU countries.

 

The Humane Society International helped exposed the business,

revealing evidence of a thriving cat and dog fur trade in many

European countries including France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria,

the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

 

Department of Trade officials said earlier this month the UK was

concerned about the trade, even though there was little evidence of

such imports into the country.

 

The RSPCA today warned that animal fur was back in fashion, despite

long-term campaigns to end the trade.

 

The RSPCA's senior manager for international programmes, Paul

Littlefair, said: " We have been appalled to see the reappearance of

fur as a fashion item over the last few years, with countries such as

China producing dog and cat fur to meet increased demand.

 

" The RSPCA began a campaign against this growing trade in 2000. In

the same year, the US government outlawed the importation and sale of

cat and dog fur, so we hope the proposed EU ban will be adopted

swiftly.

 

" It is hard to believe that despite the cruelty involved in its

production, there is still a market for this fur in the EU.

 

" The RSPCA feels that people who choose to wear fur of any kind

should be aware that they are directly responsible for a great deal

of unnecessary animal suffering. "

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

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Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with French and Spanish

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