News In Focus
5 January 2009
EU bans cat and dog fur trade
The European Union has banned the trade in cat and dog fur across its 27 member states.
The ban follows a nine-year campaign by the Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson. Mr Stevenson said he hoped the ban would put pressure on China and stop its slaughter of millions of cats and dogs to supply the furs.
Cat and dog fur from China is often used in coats, boot and glove lining and stuffed toys. Exporters often attach false labels to such goods so that shoppers buy the products not knowing what they are made from. Some 2,000,000 cats and dogs are thought to be killed for their fur in China every year.
The ban came into effect in all EU member states at midnight.
Mr Stevenson began his campaign against the trade in 1999 with the support of Humane Society International. He said he was delighted that this was finally the end, as far as Europe was concerned, for this “barbaric trade”.
The cat and dog fur trade is also banned in the US and Australia. Much of China’s export market in the fur goes to Russia.