Monday, 29th December 2008
Letter to editor - New Year’s Day marks end to cat and dog fur trade
Dear Sir,
The 1st of January will mark the satisfactory conclusion of my nine year campaign to end the horrific trade in cat and dog fur across Europe.
With support from Humane Society International and the public, including a number of celebrities, we have successfully managed to ban the import, export and trade in cat and dog skins throughout 27 EU Member States.
The two million cats and dogs which are cruelly slaughtered in China each year to supply the European fur trade will now be saved from terrible suffering.
The campaign, which started in 1999, exposed the barbaric cruelty of the trade and highlighted the consumer fraud perpetrated on an unsuspecting public through false labelling. In 2007, MEPs voted unanimously to outlaw the trade of cat and dog skins.
The US and Australia have also adopted similar legislation. China however, continues to allow the trade in cat and dog fur in domestic and overseas markets. My wish now is for China to ban this trade and in particular to close down the export of cat and dog skins to Russia, the last remaining major market for these horrific products.
Struan Stevenson MEP
