EDDR- Dog Fur Trade - Betrayed Friend

Information, Education & Advice - helping dogs in need

Man's Betrayed Friend:

This cruel and barbaric trade in the slaughter of millions of dogs and cats particularly in China has been brought to the public's attention over the last decade and shocked millions of people.

The furs and skins are made into clothing and toys, used as trimming on boots, inside gloves, on toys etc which are sold thorough Europe. Furs are dyed and not labeled as 'dog fur' before being sold to the public. Consumer goods containing dog and cat fur were widely being sold throughout the EU feeding the cash back into a horrific trade.

(In 2006 EDDR sent a cushion cover brought from a well known store in England off to a Laboratory in Europe to be DNA tested to see if it contained dog fur, the test was carried out foc, turned out to be negative for dog fur, the fur item had been imported from China and was very 'suspect' to us and the anti-fur campaign group we sent it to)

Dogs and cats (as well as other animals) are kept in massive breeding farms caged in appalling conditions before being butchered for their furs. The skinning of animals, whilst still alive, has been well documented since the Humane Society uncovered this massively shocking situation in the late 1990's, what it uncovered disgusted people to the core-never had such canine cruelty been seen in film, brave individuals worked away undercover themselves suffering to mentally cope with the cruelty they were witnessing and exposed brutality involving MILLIONS of dogs and cats being tortured daily on a scale never before imagined.

Dogs, cats and other animals suffer immense cruelty being bludgeoned with clubs, strangled with wire nooses, boiled alive and stabbed and skinned whilst still alive in view of other dogs caged and awaiting the same fate.

Dogs such as German Shepherds and Retrievers were being held down, cut and skinned alive en masse to supply the west with consumer goods. It was a trade flourishing.

Following the Humane Society footage and facts, a public outcry ensued and the United States led the way and banned the import, export, sale and production of dog and cat fur in 2002, but as the traders lost the huge American market, they focused to increase sales into Europe instead.

Warehouses full to the roofs with skins waiting to be exported to the west were witnessed.

Five EU countries introduced their own bans after the US; Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece and Italy, but it was reported that fur was moving across the borders, a EU ban was desperately needed to curb the large amounts of fur were being circulated into Russia from China. Australia also introduced a fur ban.

The campaign against the trade intensified, the Heather Mills petition received 240,584 signatures from all over the EU, it was presented to the EU in November 2006.There was also national media coverage on the issue here in the UK.

Letter writing campaigns followed and MEP's took up the issue with the European Commission. They also met with senior officials in the Chinese government who vowed to stamp out the trade-they also agreed that they would not object to a EU ban, this information was then taken to Commissioner Kyprianou, in charge of EU Consumer Affairs.

EU Regulation (EC) No 1523/2007 - banning the placing on the market and the import to, or export from, the Community of dog and cat fur, and products containing such fur.

In June 2007, the European Parliament voted for an EU-wide ban on the trade in cat and dog fur, now approved by European governments, the new law, will apply from December 31st 2008, to prevent the production, marketing, import and export of feline and canine fur. A long last - good news!

European Parliament UK Office - news on the proposed EU Wide ban. In June 2007 the European Parliament voted to support a ban on dog and cat fur imports in all of the EU's 27 member states. 800 MEP's voted to stop the brutal trade.

A poem in memory of millions of dogs, cats and other animals who have and continue to be tortured & barbarically killed for their fur,skin & flesh.

Dog, who bravely left your pack to live alongside man
Down through thousands of years
Friendships evolved not planned
The only alliance between man ever made
Over time, growing stronger with age.

But now the betrayal of man’s trusted friend!
Crammed in a cage to receive a slow death,
At the cruel hands of humans who couldn't care less.

I look into my own dog’s eyes
I see you there, I hear your cries.
No name, no home, no future; without hope.
Suffering, frightened, in the dark all alone.

I can't be there beside you, next to you, or ease your pain
But your screams have truly reached me,
Mile by mile, across the plains.

Your eyes search the crowd for a smile or friendly face
Your tail still wags, but it’s gone to waste.
Seeing others beaten, cut and skinned alive
You search for compassion in a human eye.

Leave him be, I plead, I cry
You’re in my heart, my thoughts, my mind.

I'll not buy any skins and furs, I'll not look away
I'll sign the petitions and write letters today.
I'll face the facts, compel others to act
I'll work with pen, for you; man’s betrayed friend.

For it's a sad demise for all to see
How low man sinks in brutal acts of cruelty.
Yes I am human and filled with shame
A global problem, with many to blame

Thousands of years and still we've not learned
But what would happen if the tables were turned?
Only canine would still be there, to defend thee
So I'll do for you - what you'd do for me.

Man's Betrayed Friend:

Please write to your MEP and MP today