Humane Society International: Dog and Cat Fur Trade

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dog and cat fur trade

skinned cats Two million cats and dogs will be thanking the Prime Minister and his Customs Minister tonight, after the announcement that Australia will ban imports of products made from their fur. So too will the 70,000 Australians that signed Humane Society International’s petition to the Prime Minister calling for the ban.

In July 2003 Humane Society International (HSI) exposed the horrific cruelties involved in the global cat and dog fur trade and revealed its grisly products are on sale in Australia.

“Today (21st May 2004) HSI congratulates the Coalition Government for taking a clear stand against the trade. Australian consumers certainly don’t want to buy cat and dog fur and Australian retailers don’t want to be at risk of selling it”, said Nicola Beynon, HSI spokeperson.

HSI’s 18 month investigation revealed appalling animal abuses at the fur farms in Asia, killing an estimated 2 million cats and dogs a year, and the deception tactics used by the merchandisers to sell the fur to unsuspecting dog and cat loving consumers in countries like Australia. Clothing and toys made from cat and dog fur are deliberately mislabelled as fictitious animals or not labelled at all.

The public response to our investigation was overwhelming, attracting by far the biggest outcry of all the animal causes HSI has ever championed. While 70,000 Australians signed HSI’s petition to the Prime Minister, one of the biggest petitions to the Australian parliament, we are also told that Senator Ellison, Minister for Customs received an unprecedented 9000 direct representations on the issue.

fur “HSI sincerely thanks our many thousands of supporters for taking the time to speak up for the animals” said Ms Beynon. “We also thank the Prime Minister for writing to the States and Territories to ensure the import ban is matched with measures against any domestic trade that might occur”.
Australia’s import ban follows countries like the United States, Italy, Denmark, France and Sweden that have already acted to ban cat and dog fur or have laws passing through their legislatures.

“It is HSI’s hope that closing down worldwide markets will stymie the industry and save millions of cats and dogs from awful suffering” concluded Ms Beynon.