Yuck. Primitive European trade in cat and dog skins

[Robert Harris]

This is rather disgusting, isn't it. The Koreans have an excuse for killing dogs -- they are used for food. It should be noted that the US has banned the practice of trading cat and dog pelts. Perhaps the Euros will catch up with us one day and start behaving in a more civilized manner. :)


Cats 'farmed for skins in EU' i

BBC News has seen evidence which suggests that cats are being farmed for their skins in the European Union.i

t is thought that tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of cat and dog skins are traded in Europe each year.

Campaigners say that now is the time for national governments or the European Commission to act.

Europe, it seems, is a magnet for cat and dog fur.

Cat blankets, so the aficionados say, are good for rheumatism and dog pelts are, according to campaigners, often labelled misleadingly and sold as the fur of some exotic, even mythical beast.


More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3009537.stm

[Swamp Fox]

Ugh. And they call us uncouth.

[Robert Harris]

Yep. It really is a backward continent. :)

[Stiofán]

I hear in some countries they eat snails......what barbarians!

[Robert Harris]

Don't forget frogs's legs. Yuck.

[ShinyTop]

LMAO. If they are uncivilized for trading skins of our pets imagine what the Indians think of us eating their sacred animal. Can we not allow harmless differences in culture without name calling. I would not eat a dog or knowingly buy dog fur but cannot see anything wrong with other people doing just that. Surely this is not in the class of stoning to death, so we should leave this alone, especially if we want to interfere in serious issues.

[Robert Harris]

Nobody here has suggested intervening. We are just expressing our views of the backwardness of those European beasts.

[jfcjrus]

I have generally accepted the fact that different cultures believe differently than I do.
Humans killing other species for food is one thing. And utilizing the non-food by-products makes sense.

But, raising cats & dogs for skins to just make blankets?
Did I read that right?

If so, we humans are, indeed, a pathetic lot to be at the top of the food chain, and running this planet.
We ought to be ashamed that we'd help create life and then destroy it for this stated purpose.
I think it's pathetic.

And I'm one that kills several deer, pheasants, grouse, ducks, and fish every year.
But, I don't do it to make damn blankets.
We humans need to kill other things to survive.
Such is life, and Nature.

Oh, hell.
I apologize for this outburst.
I guess it's just my affinity for cats & dogs as companions, not food; and certainly not blankets.

But, damn!
Regards,

[Robert Harris]

Yes one can have respect for different cultures that have different practices. Most are harlmess. If the French want to eat snails, fine. Doesn't bother me -- as long as I do not have to join them.

But I still reserve the right to find some of the practices of other cultures to be barbaric and disgusting, worthy of some sort of intervention to change the practices (e.g., stoning women to death for adultery or selling 13-year old daughters to brothels) or simply disgusting, worth at least chidinng them for (e.g., raising cats for their pelts to make kitty-hair blankets). And I understand that there are some African tribes in which the brains of deceased relatives are eaten. That also bothers me, and is not a custom I can ignore or respect. For esthetic reasons and others -- apparently that practice accounts for spread of some exotic diseases.

[Robert Harris]

BBC has a follow-up story on this issue, right here. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3011995.stm)

A few items are reported in the story:


British MEP Struan Stevenson told the BBC that two million cats and dogs are being killed in China alone each year, in order to satisfy demand in Europe.

As evidence of the trade he has collected:

* A blanket made out of four golden retrievers, bought in Copenhagen
* Individual cat skins complete with eye-holes, paws and tails, bought in Barcelona
* A full-length coat made out of up to 42 Alsatian puppies, bought in Berlin
* A cuddly toy cat made out of dog fur

Mr Struan said the treatment of animals in fur farms was often inhumane and that he had seen videos of Alsatian dogs being skinned alive.

[jfcjrus]

Robert,
Damn!
Are you posting this stuff just to see how much you can piss me off?
"golden retriever blankets"???

Truly pathetic.
European market. Eastern market. Doesn't matter.

A sad testimony on how we humans are demonstrating our supremacy over the other inhabitants of this planet.

Anyway, thanks for the update.
But, as I don't know what to do about this disgusting practice, I'm done.

Regards,