Cuddly toys made from dead dogs . . .

Message received by e-mail from Animal Aid

Would you please write to your MP about this issue. There are lots of
'ornaments' being made and sold in shops including, the main culprit,
.....................Nauticalia.  

They are made from this fur, cat & dog fur.  I wrote to my MP
in June and he wrote to the DTI.  The response, from Barones Symons of the
DTI was they are monitoring the situation to see if there are any imports.
This shows clear evidence, please send the e mail and a letter asking them to
ban it.  Baroness Symons wrote to MP's last December (2001) advising them that
'over the coming months we will be exploring with European partners
whether a ban similair to the US one, would be effective'.  I think ten months is
long enough to decide.  I know we all get loads of appeals but please do this
one, thousands of cats and dogs are being skinned for ornaments sold in the
UK!!

Thanks, Kathy.

Horror Chinese imports on sale in UK

EXCLUSIVE
By Adam Docherty

THE truth about this life-like cuddly toy will shock animal lovers the length and breadth of the country.

It was bought in Scotland and appears to be a cute kitten, curled up asleep safe and sound in its wicker bed.
But this kitten… is made from the fur of REAL dogs - farmed in horrendous circumstances in China and slaughtered for their pelts.
Some are skinned before they are completely dead.

The horrific discovery was made by Scots MEP Struan Stevenson who bought this particular toy from a souvenir shop in Shetland. It was labelled Made in China…. Small print on the reverse of the label described it as an animal by-product….
We found similar items in a number of shops in Glasgow.

Souvenir shops
Mr Stevenson says this and similar toys are in gift and souvenir shops around Britain and Europe. Ironically, they're a firm favourite with pet lovers unaware of their true origins.

Pelts are often mislabelled, says Mr Stevenson, so retailers will innocently stock them and customers have no idea what they're really made of.
Identical toys, bought in Holland, were tested for DNA by the Academic Medical Centre of Amsterdam.
Results proved conclusively that they were made of dog hair.
Mr Stevenson has been tirelessly campaigning for years to put an end to the European market for the remains of dogs and cats farmed in China.
The USA has already banned the trade, following an 18-month undercover investigation conducted by the Humane Society International in Communist China.

They documented the brutal lives and cruel deaths of more than two million dogs and cats in Asia each year - killed solely for their skins.

Mr Stevenson and one of the toys.
Since then, Asian exporters have turned to Europe as a market for their products.
As well as fur products, dog skins are also used as shoe leather or in some dog chew toys - which means domestic pets may be eating the skins of other dogs.
Richard Swain, the Humane Society's undercover investigator and a former Maryland police captain, said, "Make no mistake about it, this fur is being sold throughout Europe. In China I have seen warehouses the size of football fields piled to the ceiling with dog and cat fur waiting to be exported to the West.…"

Massive scale
Struan Stevenson continued, "This is the evidence I have been waiting for. It confirms without a doubt that the appalling trade in cat and dog fur has penetrated the European market on a massive scale."
Since the USA banned all cat and dog products, Europe has become the new dumping ground. Italy has banned cat and dog imports and it is about time other EU member states followed suit.
I will be writing to Commissioner David Byrne demanding he apply an EU-wide ban on these products. I will be sending him the latest scientific evidence as well as a copy of The Sunday Post to convince him to act now.…

November 2002 Update . . .

TigerAid, a charity based in Los Angeles, is being used on a leaflet here printed by a company called Nauticalia.  

Nauticalia,  are selling and merchandising these fur cats which are everywhere here and in Europe since the USA has banned them.

They are ornaments made from real fur and look like sleeping cats. The company say they are rabbit fur, farmed in China!!  

If they are, it is still appalling as many are skinned alive whilst awaiting their fate at the meat market.  

Some similar items have been shown to be cat & dog fur, the other main export of China!  

Nauticalia, due to the outcry from animal groups, have said they give a donation to animal charities.

CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade) have informed the charities who received the donations (which are given covertly, via a solicitor and not openly from Nauticalia) of the trade this company is involved in and the charities here have returned the donations.

Now, because Tiger Aid has accepted donations they can once again state on their packages of dead animal fur, that a donation is given to animal charities!!

Please email TigerAid and ask them to disassociate themselves from the cruelty involved in the fur trade.

www.tigeraid.org ............[email protected]

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