Belgium's furry friends being farmed for pelts (dog fur rugs, cat fur coats)

The Guardian via SMH ^ | May 10 2003

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Cats and dogs are being farmed in Belgium for their fur, which is used to make blankets, coats and gloves, the European Parliament has been told.

Videotaped footage of Belgian furriers explaining how the secretive trade operates was gathered by undercover investigators working for the American campaign group Humane Society International.

One furrier is clearly heard to say that cats are farmed in Belgium. Another says stray cats and dogs are rounded up on the streets of Brussels and Ghent and slaughtered.

The evidence was presented at the European Parliament by a cross-party panel of MPs. One member held up a rug which he said was made from four golden retrievers. He also displayed a coat purportedly made from the pelts of 42 alsatian puppies, and a figurine of a cat which DNA tests had shown to contain cat fur.

Farming for cat and dog fur was known to take place in China and East Asia, but until Thursday there had been no evidence of it on European soil.

MPs called for a ban on the sale of the products, which are legal throughout the European Union, apart from Italy. They also said that in many cases consumers were unaware of what they were buying because goods were falsely labelled.

[scab4faa]

I have a cat I will donate..

[Mister Baredog]

PETA alert!!!! Are these WAR crimes?

[honeygrl]

Whats the big deal? Can't use their fur if their cute? The PETA and ASPCA are always complaining about how many stray cats and dogs there are.. looks like these people found a way to solve the problem.

[honeygrl]

good lord, I'm not thinking today. THEIR = THEY'RE! i can't believe I made that mistake! I must not be awake yet.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Sheesh, what's the big deal? I mean dogs and cats are considered "dinner" in asian countries. Besides how many stray cats do you see hanging around a chinese restauraunt?

[Cicero]

Seeing that it's Belgium we are talking about, it's a wonder they aren't making rugs out of children.

[honeygrl]

That ad doesn't tell the whole truth about the dalmatian problem. The movie did cause more people to want them and breed them. Unfortunately most of these people who wanted them had children and didn't realize Dalmatians are NOT the best dogs to have with kids.. especially as puppies. They are not the easiest dogs to care for either so saying they make wonderful pets is only half true.. they make good pets IF you have a large yard and no small kids. They might as well go ahead and send those 1001 dalmatians over to Belgium because they won't likely be finding many homes for them around the US.

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I just hope that when the harvest the fur, they don't waste all that tasty meat!