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Cat & Dog Fur Ban

Success!

A Complete European Ban from China by December 31st 2008

This campaign began nine years ago when the Humane Society of the United States were tipped off that cats and dogs were being slaughtered in China for their fur. Further investigation uncovered the terrifying conditions and torture of these animals inhumanely skinned alive, strangled or stabbed solely for their skin and fur. Warehouses were discovered full to capacity of skins and pelts awaiting shipment to the US, EU and Russia. In 2002 the US ban was achieved when evidence was produced of dog fur trims on parker jackets at the Burlington Coat factory. Since then all campaign efforts have been directed towards the EU and the implementation of a Europe wide ban.

Conservative MEP, Struan Stevenson should be singled out for his tireless commitment to the cause as a Member of the European Parliament. He made the abolition of this cruel trade his major priority and was unrelenting in seeing through his heartfelt wish to outlaw this cruel trade in the EU parliament. Well done Struan, this would not have been possible without your tireless pursuit of our agenda before the European Commission unwavering even when ignored by the previous Consumer Affairs Commissioner who had claimed there was no legal basis to impose an EU ban.

Thank you to Commissioner Kyprianou and his office, in particular Despina Spanou for watching the footage and taking an interest in the plight of these animals as the previous Commissioner had not. Thank you for working hard to see through the implementation of this ban through the bureaucratic and legal realities. Without your open ears and diligent office this could not have been realised. Commissioner Kyprianou said at the press conference after the ban was implemented. ” After I saw the film I didn’t need any other convincing.”

This momentous day would not have been possible without the tireless campaigning of Betsy Dribben at Humane Society of the United States, Mark Glover at Respect for Animals and the fearlessly brave contributions of undercover investigators Rick Swain and Manfred Karremann without whose efforts and emotional strength in the face of such horror this campaign would never have ignited. It was the strength of mind and bravery of these people in harrowing, dangerous situations that recorded the details and captured the footage, unequivocal evidence to the world of the terrifying conditions and torturous treatment of innocent cats and dogs in China. It was this footage that broke so many hearts, opening floodgates of tears, welling up a swell of emotion and anger compelling us all to unite and fight to put an end to this barbarism. Animal lovers worldwide can never thank you enough!

An enormous thank you to Dennis Erdman for bringing this vile trade to our attention. For his unrelenting drive and determined campaign support. His willingness to use his Hollywood connections to encourage public figure campaign support in his dissemination of this footage was of inestimable value. His work contributed directly to a huge percentage of petition signatories and encouraged a multitude of outraged letters to Parliament. Thank you for getting us on board, as animal lovers there was no other option than to do everything in our power to help. Thanks also to Sophie Everest, Colin Stone, Dave Stanford and Fiona Bruce at the BBC for their ‘Real Story’ documentary highlighting the cause - which helped us to reach a wider audience garnering much needed public support for an extra push in this campaign. Additional thanks to Rick Wakeman, Nicki Brooks, Shely Bryan, Arlene McCarthy, Adrian Addison, Barbara Mass, Mark Rissi, Paulo Casaca, the late Philip Whitehead and Eva-Britt Svensson -your efforts were invaluable.

Thanks to Wendy Walker for allowing me to produce a Larry King Live one hour special on this important issue that put pressure on China to admit it was actually happening in their country. All eyes are now on the Chinese government. As the market for this vile trade shrinks they should act now and outlaw this brutal industry for good, full stop!

Finally this is a victory for campaigners everywhere and this victory should be viewed as an example of what can be achieved in this world by uniting together under a banner of the common good and force politicians to recognise the will of the people in our struggle for justice and equality for all beings on this Earth. A huge thank you to all of you. We are sure there are many more that deserve a mention for their efforts and are sorry for any omissions. But please take solace in the fact that your efforts have directly helped to save the lives of an estimated 2 Millions dogs and cats per year.

MEP Straun Stevenson quotes below:

19 June 2007: A EU-wide ban on cat & dog fur imports/exports & trade will now become law in all 27 member states by 31 Dec 2008.

For more information please visit:

www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi
www.hsi.org.au

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