dog & cat fur legal in UK, big in Bulgaria

[Ronda Roaring]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/18/
nfur18.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/18/ixhome.html
The Sunday Telegraph. 18 December 2005.
Cheaper than mink or sable - fur coats made from dogs that were
skinned alive
By Katy Duke and Elizabeth Day

It looks like the must-have item in every glamorous woman's
winter wardrobe: a sleek, black fur coat dripping with opulence.
But despite the seductive appearance, the coat is not mink or
sable. Instead, it has been manufactured from dog fur - possibly
from an animal that was drugged and skinned alive to preserve
the fur's freshness. Similar coats are selling rapidly in
fashion boutiques across Europe.
An undercover investigation has revealed a booming trade in dog
fur coats from eastern Europe, some of which are likely to be on
sale in Britain. The fur, which comes from both strays and
captured pets, is often re-labelled to disguise its origins
before being stitched into coats and re-dyed. This Bulgarian
fur, for instance, was incorrectly passed off as "Korean Wolf".
Unlike a mink, which can cost £10,000, a top-price coat made
from dog pelt may sell in markets of western Europe for around
£400. The investigation by a German television documentary crew
focused on Bulgaria, where it found that stray dogs were
routinely rounded up by licensed trappers and delivered to fur
factories.
Anita Singh, a campaign co-ordinator for People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals in Britain, said that there were also
reports of pets being snatched for their fur. "They tend to be
bigger dogs like German shepherds or golden retrievers," she
said. "It is important for people to realise that when they buy
fur it is nearly impossible to tell whether real dog or cat has
been used unless it undergoes extensive DNA testing. "You can
find dog fur in shopping centres in Britain labelled as
something else. It is a disgusting industry and our advice is
simply to avoid all types of fur."
It is not illegal to trade in dog and cat fur in Britain,
although bans have been imposed in the United States, Sweden,
Denmark, Greece, Italy, France and Australia. The British Fur
Trade Association, which represents the fur industry, said none
of its members knowingly used dog fur, and it had introduced a
labelling system to try to guard against its use.
Most furs - such as mink, fox, seal or rabbit - have their own
classification so it is possible to see how much is imported and
exported. Fur that falls under the "other fur" category,
however, does not have to be listed by species and could include
dog or cat fur.
Historically, the British have been unwilling to buy dog fur. In
the children's book, 101 Dalmatians, written by Dodie Smith in
1948, the villainous Cruella de Vil tries to steal dalmatian
puppies to make herself a unique spotted coat. Yordanka Zrcheva,
the president of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of
Animals, went undercover for a German television documentary to
demonstrate the extent of the problem. Miss Zrcheva said that
the country, which is hoping to join the European Union in just
over a year, produced "tens of thousands" of dog pelts to sell
across Europe. "There is a massive industry based on the
systematic killing of dogs," she said. "There are dog fur
factories all over Bulgaria, and they produce all sorts of
items, like fur coats, leather shoes and bags made from dogs and
so on."
According to Rumi Becker, a spokesman for the Doctors for
Animals group which works for the protection of Bulgaria's stray
dogs, the authorities are unwilling to clamp down because the
industry is "big business". In Bulgaria the average salary is
around £35 a month, while a teacher makes about £80 a month and
a doctor £100. One fur coat can be sold inside the country for
£200 and more than double that abroad. "It is hard to collate
exact numbers but around 10,000 dogs are collected and killed in
Sofia alone every year, often shipped straight to fur factories
from dog pounds and animal shelters," said Dr Becker. "The
so-called fur lords who run the factories are farming the dogs
on the street without having to pay any support. They don't have
to feed or house them or anything except round them up and then
skin them. I bought a black and white coat labelled Korean Wolf.
I asked if it was made with street dog fur, and the vendor said
it was, but that I should keep my voice down. I was pretending
to be a dealer, and asked if it would be possible to have more.
She told me she had 750 in a storeroom in Sofia."
Last week, the anti-fur campaigner Heather Mills McCartney urged
the European Union to ban the trade in cat and dog fur, citing
the example of the Czech Republic. "Domestic cats are stolen off
the streets, and we're talking about 2,000 to 3,000 just in the
Czech Republic, not in the whole of Europe," she said.

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