 Dog Fur on a Coat
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July 10, 2003 — The Humane Society International called on the Australian government Thursday to ban imports of dog and cat fur after it found a coat and toy cat fashioned from real pelts for sale in Sydney.
Society spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said the United States passed a similar law about two years ago after similar discoveries were made there.
Sales of such pelts are banned in Italy and the European Union is weighing whether to follow suit.
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The use of cats and dogs for fashion has drawn outrage in Australia, Beynon said, even though Australian law does not require manufacturers to identify the type of fur used in products imported into the country.
"It's one of those things that people would think was illegal already," she told AFP. "Hopefully it won't take the (Australian) government long to realize they need to act on this one.
"We made them fully aware two weeks ago but unfortunately they are taking a long time to work it out."
Customs Minister Chris Ellison said Thursday the government was aware of public concern and was considering it with some urgency.
Beynon said that in an hour of shopping in Sydney, a researcher found an expensive coat trimmed with dog fur and a $12 ($7.80 U.S.) toy cat whose fur was the genuine article.
A fur coat offered for sale in Europe was found to have been made from 42 Alsatian puppies.
Beynon said the Society was prompted to investigate the source of fur used to trim coats when the garments became fashionable again a few years ago.
"We only imagine that it is widespread because a lot of products, clothing and textiles coming here are made in China," she said.
The Humane Society has spent the past 18 months investigating manufacturers in China, Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines, which slaughter more than two million cats and dogs a year to harvest their pelts.
Beynon said cats and dogs were easy to raise and a low-cost source of fur. Roughly a dozen dog pelts and two dozen from cats are used to make a single coat.
The Society also found that the animals were caged and killed inhumanely.
It was also not uncommon for such furs to be exported to Europe, the United States and Australia bearing hefty price tags and misleading labels that sometimes identified nonexistent animals — such as an Asian jackal or a Sobaki — as the source.
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What can you do to help? Visit the Web site of the International Humane Society to find out.
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