Dogs and cats : animals stripped of their fur

If dogs and cats are eaten in Asia, in the past their fur has been used around the world. In 2000, the United States ended this trade, followed by France in 2003 then Europe as a whole. A French decree, published in the Journal Officiel on 13th January 2006 stipulates in its first article: “The introduction, importing and sale in France of unprocessed or processed dog and cat skins and any derived products are banned”.

Thrown off the scent
This text therefore closes the loophole in 2003′s decree which only banned their entry into the country. But this legislation is difficult to apply effectively throughout Europe. In fact, there are many forgeries that enable the law to be avoided: false names, such as "Asian wolf" or "mountain wolf", the colour of the skins, their use in objects such as drums, cuddly toys, and so on. Institutions already recommend the establishment of detection methods (fur DNA tests) and clearer naming regulations.

This trade is persisting
While we can only rejoice in this legislative progress, this trade is still managing to cling on. In many countries around the world, notably in Asia, dog and cat furs are common currency. Like the trade in pet meat, there are no official statistics but the figures – extrapolated from various seizures and investigations – show that there hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats are massacred each year. One Chinese firm declared to investigators that it had 50 000 dog skins and as many cat skins. Another had 100 000 cat furs in stock. Documents on the exports from a firm in Beijing reveal that one delivery alone may represent between 40 000 and 55 000 cat skins, or even more.

Farms in China
In China, the country that has long been suspected of being the main culprit in the trade in dogs and cats for fur, there are actual farms – owned by the State! – mostly located in the North where the harsher winters enable farmers to obtain "thicker and better quality" coats.
But the go-betweens are often located in Beijing: official “animal sub-product” companies. This trade is related to the meat industry: dogs and cats are eaten almost everywhere in China, cats are only eaten in Canton. Dog farms contain 5 to 300 animals, cat farms hardly ever more than 70. But many families bring in a little extra income by raising a few cats or dogs that they kill in winter – the season for it – and sell at open air markets (which exist in many villages).

Scandalous conditions
Investigations carried out in China and Thailand by the German film director Manfred Karremann and Rick Swain, director of the "investigations" department at the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States, an American association with nearly 3 million members which works with One Voice) revealed scandalous living and slaughtering conditions (see box).
One Voice is doing everything in its power to achieve a complete and final ban on this trade.
 

"When cat fur is coloured, it is not easy to distinguish it from other furs".
Statement by the chairman of a German company that specialises in dealing cat fur

In the tracks of a scandalous trade
Investigators visited a dog farm to the north of Harmin (Manchuria). Despite the biting cold of the month of February, the room was not heated and the dogs were left to sit there surrounded by the bodies of their fellow animals hanging from hooks. They often had to endure several hours’ road journeys inside sacks to Harbin. There, in the dark hangar of a butcher’s premises, they were tied up with short chains, or even worse: with a thin piece of wire. The butcher killed 10 to 12 every day, selling the meat on one side and the fur on the other.

For some dogs the agony continued even longer. Restaurants (notably Korean ones) order live dogs to have fresher meat. In one of them, an investigator saw a dog taken out of the sack, wagging its tail – confident and happy. But when the butcher tied it down with the piece of wire it tried to escape. The butcher spread its left rear leg and stabbed it in the groin. The dog started to bleed to death and started to scream and struggle but the metal wire sliced through its neck. A few minutes later, the butcher stripped its fur off in front of the other dogs waiting on the frozen floor.

We should note that several dogs were observed alive as their fur was stripped from them: a video even shows a German Shepherd blinking its eyes. This is the race that is most highly appreciated for its fur: the "greys" sell for a little more than the "yellows" and their fur is even passed off as fox or Asian racoon.