Letters from readers:

Fur and leather trade
continues to take toll

Hi there,
I have been reading your website - and recently became aware of this horrific trade in China and other Asian countries. Has anything happened to help these animals? I contribute to Sirius and run a monthly auction on Trade Me, and the total proceeds go to Sirius.

I so want to help these animals. It's just awful. I just thought I would send you an email to see if there is any light on the horizon for these poor animals. - Fiona

Hello Fiona,
Yes, it is a horrible trade and getting worse, mainly because many countries have not taken the initiative to stop it. Businesses such as supermarket chains know where their materials are sourced but go for the cheapest option - they buy materials in China and have the products made in China, Bangladesh, India, and other poorer countries and then can sell them at huge mark-ups! They put their own brand on them and sell them without any information on where the article is made or where the material is sourced. Just today I was looking at fur websites in China and one was advertising cat fur, with no attempt to hide the fact. Its dog fur was under the usual names of faux fur, fake fur, China raccoon, nylon fox, wolf, rabbit, Tibetan lamb, and other such furs. Happily the USA has banned all such trade but they still get the occasional tryer, usually falsely labelled.

In order to stop this awful trade we must all stop buying any items that could possibly be made from dog or cat fur or skin - bearing mind that it will either have no information on the label, or will have false information. For myself, I buy no fur, leather, suede or skin items that are unlabelled or from China. That includes clothes, bags, purses, soft toys, suitcases, portfolios, belts, fashion accessories, shoes, giftware such as writing cases and diaries with leather covers, and even pet chew bones and chew toys. If you have any doubt as to the source just don't buy it.

Personally I think that the Chinese so-called "businessmen" are so devious and crooked (they prove that by their internationally recognised system of false labelling) that we will never stamp it out until there is an international standard developed, such as for organic items, perhaps called the "pet-animal-free guarantee" or something like that - a standard that people can trust because it is randomly tested continuously by the importing countries and if items don't comply the whole shipment is sent back to the place of origin - and then we can opt to buy only items that carry that guarantee.

On the better side, we are getting there and parts of Europe have put bans in place - but of course they have to be capable of policing those bans. Many places put the bans in place and then leave it up to the producing country to comply with the bans - a huge mistake when dealing with a country like China. They do need to show that they mean it, by policing the bans and not being afraid of the consequences (sending the shipments back if they contain even one banned item).

Sirius is very good - one of the officials went to the Philippines this month to meet govt officials for talks about the dog meat trade over there. Dogs are not cared for very well there and rabies infection is very high, along with hookworm and heart worm, only the priveleged few dogs ever getting treatment for any of those conditions.

Yes, there is light on the horizon for these poor animals, but there are always the people in our western countries who know what is going on and who will still sell their dogs and puppies to such countries (they would probably also sell their children for a good enough price); buy questionable goods for sale in their retail or manufacturing businesses; be willing to close their eyes to the obvious truth and even assist corrupt producers to hide the true facts about their produce, all in the name of making money.

There is an update on page 18 as to the world situation on dog and cat fur and leather trade at the present time which does give one hope for a worldwide ban in the very near future. - Liz