Ireland set to ban use of cat and dog fur

IRELAND is prepared to ban the import and use of cat and dog fur in line with EU proposals, Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan said. The fur, often cruelly stripped from live animals, is being used in clothing and ornaments, sometimes disguised as fake fur or simply not labelled at all.

Its use has been outlawed in several countries but not in Ireland where the Government admitted it does not know the level of imports or how much is in circulation in the country. There have been no labelling rules either for the fur which is frequently called different names including rabbit and wildcat to disguise its true origin. Minister Coughlan said there was a moral obligation to look after companion pets.

Ireland would rely on the expertise from EU laboratories to identify any such fur attempting to come into the Irish market.

The proposal to ban the fur throughout the EU follows intense lobbying and revelations by a number of organisations and individuals about the extent of the trade and its cruelty. This intensified recently after videos and photographs were released showing incidents of the animals being reared and killed for their fur in Asia mainly, but also in some European countries including the Czech Republic and Belgium. One of the high profile campaigners, Heather McCartney Mills, spoke to the European Parliament on the issue. She warned that consumers can unwittingly buy items since the fur can be found in the lining of boots and gloves, trim on parkas, full coats, on sleeping cat figurines, in hair bows, dyed to look like faux fur, and a host of other items — including some dog chew toys.

The US banned the fur after an undercover investigation in China by the Humane Society of the US revealed that two million cats and dogs were being raised under cruel conditions and then skinned alive, strangled or stabbed for their skins.

The Society’s report documented warehouses in China filled to capacity with skins and pelts waiting shipment to Europe, the US and Russia. “Asian merchants bragged that they could fraudulently label any item to confuse consumers, dye it to appear as though it was faux fur or even mink or not label it at all,” the report said. Major US manufacturers such as Burlington found it was being used on their parka jackets and Hallmark’s cat figurines were covered in the real thing.