Posted on 12/17/2005 6:07:46 PM PST by blam
Cheaper than mink or sable - fur coats made from dogs that were skinned alive
By Katy Duke and Elizabeth Day
(Filed: 18/12/2005)
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.
Heather Mills-McCartney with a rug made from cats' pelts 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.
My ex-wife's lawyer did the same thing to me, but I wasn't given anything for the pain.
It's grown awfully quiet in here since you pointed out the fact that the skinning alive is indeed happening...
You realize it's 3AM in some parts of the country. I'm here because I'm a glutton for punishment :^)
I'm not surprised to hear that live skinning is happening in the world. Is it happening on the scale such that a great many furs in the stores are likely to be mis-labeled, such that one should "avoid all fur products"? BZZZZZZT. Sorry I'm not buying it. I think a lie is being sandwitched between two truths here. Like I said, someone who is not sympathetic to PETA and not an anti-fur nut will have to make the case. I think they're stretching the truth to fit their agenda.
,,, fur coats and winter. It's it and that's that.
I have no problem with people wearing fur coats, just not made from dogs or cats.
It's quite a leap of logic to deny that the skinning takes place because Peta is against all fur coats.
That's not all they're arguing in the story, and they specifically do try to get people to avoid all fur from this one argument ("It is a disgusting industry and our advice is simply to avoid all types of fur."). They are making the specific charge that so many pelts from dogs and cats are making it into the commercial market as mis-labeled items that it's "unsafe" to buy any fur products for fear of buying something made from a dog or a cat. I'm pointing out that they have not made this case, and that their attempt to show their case with the "cat rug" is not only inadequate to their argument, it smacks of demagoguery and convinces me otherwise (that such widespread commercial penetration is indeed not taking place). Their example is something that specifically could never prove their argument, as it could convince no one of being anything other than what it is. Are cats and dogs being skinned somewhere in the world? Probably. Is it a problem in the commercial fur market, to the specific degree that one should avoid all fur, as they recommend? They have not shown this, and their (in my opinion) overreach tells me that it probably isn't the case. They simply have no credibility.
Now you contradict your own demagoguery:
No one skins dogs or any other animal alive...As I said, BS.
Skinning an animal alive would destroy the pelt 100% of the time. Struggling animals tend to get blood all over the pelt (bye bye, fur), and would make it impossible to make clean cuts. The more I look at this story, the more convinced I am that it's a 100% manufactured LIE.
100%, no less.
It simply doesn't hold water. Skinning alive. TOTAL BS.
I guess it's easy to make such blanket statements, not unlike the what you're accusing Peta of doing...
""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.""
Yes! Trapping was a cruel thing inflicted on wild animals, too. We don't need fur coats.
If you look around long enough, you could find some guy in China serving a fetus as a delicacy. Does that mean there are 100,000 dead fetus's showing up at McDonalds?
I smell a rat, not a dog or cat. I believe there is a little sensationalism in this article with embellishment.
Since when did the PETA crowd care about facts anyway?
I still say BS. Sorry, but I don't believe it. There is no reason to skin them alive. As I said before this is BS.
Very inhumane and just sad.
That picture of those dogs crammed into that little cage pretty much ruined my morning.
BS, MS, PHD. Why should we want to reply.
The part about systematically skinning them alive to "preserve the freshness of the fur" is BS. However, I don't doubt for a second, that the people doing this don't worry if some of the dogs aren't quite dead, or even unconscious, when they're skinned. You can be sure that they are using some cheap unreliable method of killing the dogs in large batches, with most but not all being dead before they are quickly pushed ahead to the skinning phase of the operation. People who kill animals to make a profit from their fur are completely hardened to the suffering of sentient creatures. There are well-documented instances of baby harp seal hunters skinning the little seals alive -- they just can't be bothered to take another whack at the poor thing's head if the first one didn't finish the job.
Um... the picture is cat fur, not dog fur.
Anyway, it would seem really stupid to skin any animal alive. It would make it really hard to get an intact pelt. This has to be bogus.
AH I see it says that. Why don't they show a picture of dog fur then so people can see what it looks like when they get a 'korean wolf' coat?
So why is it wrong to have fur coats from dogs but not wolves? Aren't they dogs too?
Anyway... still the idea that they're skinned alive has got to be just them yanking people's chains.
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