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Sava
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GO GO GO!
Mar 2001
time: 23:28
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quote:
Cats 'farmed for skins in EU'
BBC News has seen evidence which suggests that cats are being farmed for their skins in the European Union.
Cats and dogs are not farmed for their fur in the European Union
EU website
It 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.
Cat and dog fur trade
Campaigners claim 2 million cats and dogs slaughtered every year
Main exporter: China
12 to 15 adult dogs needed to make a dog fur coat
Up to 24 cats needed for cat fur coat
Cat and dog fur also used in hats, gloves, shoes, blankets, stuffed animals and toys
Dog fur sometimes labelled as: Gae-wolf, sobaki, Asian jackal, goupee, loup d'Asie, Corsac fox, dogues du Chine, or simply fake or exotic fur
Cat fur sometimes labelled as: house cat, wild cat, katzenfelle, rabbit, goyangi, mountain cat
Since the US has banned the trade of cat and dog skins, the European market has expanded.
A video seen by BBC News shows one Belgian furrier displaying a blanket he says was made from cats farmed in Belgium.
What's more, he says that stray cats and dogs are rounded up and skinned.
That would seem to contradict the assertion from the officials who help run the EU at the European Commission that there is no cat or dog farming inside the union.
The Commission says that a ban on the trade is not really in their power - it would be better left to national governments.
So far, though, only Italy has brought in such a ban.
Campaigners say there is a lot of evidence that cat and dog fur products are being imported from inhumane fur farms in the Far East.
Earlier this year, DNA tests on winter jackets with fur trim on sale in Italy proved that they were made with dog fur.
Italian shops stocking the jackets said suppliers had told them the coats were made with the fur of raccoons or raccoon dogs - a wild canid originally from eastern Siberia, China and Japan.
Members of the European Parliament campaigning for the trade in such goods to be banned have accused the European Commission of lacking the political will to take up the fight.
They say the trade is not only morally repugnant, but also a case of consumer fraud.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/...ope/3009537.stm
Published: 2003/05/08 09:50:14
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This is ****ing terrible 
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Zevico
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Melbourne
Apr 2002
time: 15:28
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What are your opinions on leather, out of interest?
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Sava
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GO GO GO!
Mar 2001
time: 23:28
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I had to balance this terrible story with a good one
quote:
Cat inherits house, trust fund
LONDON, England (AP) --Tinker really is the cat that got the cream.
Thanks to his late owner, a wealthy widow, the former stray now lives in some splendor in his own house, valued at 350,000 pounds (US$560,000) and dines on fish bought from his 100,000-pound (US$160,000) trust fund.
The will of Margaret Layne, 89, published in The Times newspaper on Tuesday, named Tinker as the beneficiary of a large chunk of her estate, including her house in Harrow, northwest London.
When he dies, the estate will pass to the trustees, Layne's former neighbors, Ann and Eugene Wheatley, who deliver Tinker's food and milk each day.
The good life is proving attractive to other cats.
In an interview with The Times, Wheatley, 75, said Tinker now shares the house with Lucy, "who was our ***** but decided to move there after she had a litter.
"And there's Stardust, a white cat who came to us from a friend who couldn't look after him any more but chose to go and live there," he said.
Wheatley said recent stock market falls had hit Tinker's trust fund but "there's a limit to what you can spend it on."
He said he had used some of the money to maintain the house "and Tinker is fond of coley [fish], so we bought him some."
Layne, who had no children, died last year, leaving an estate worth nearly 586,000 (US$937,000).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europ...t.ap/index.html |
Good to see some cats living the high life. 
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gunkulator
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"Everytime you ********** God kills a kitten."
Maybe the EU's on to something. The dead kittens from this sight would probably clothe a small 3rd world country.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:28
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"How about tennis racket strings?"
Sure, I'll play.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:28
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Cats put up with you, I'm not convinced they are your friend.
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Sava
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GO GO GO!
Mar 2001
time: 23:28
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quote:
City keeps vets' paws off cat claws
Advertisement
By Vincent J. Schodolski
Tribune national correspondent
May 8, 2003
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Memo to Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer, Macavity and Bustopher Jones: You can relax, cats. As of Wednesday, it is illegal for some human, more interested in protecting a sofa than in you, to force you to undergo an onychectomy to remove your claws.
In what is believed to be the first such law in the country, this small city in the midst of Los Angeles banned the declawing of cats through a City Council vote last month.
And while the cats here might not have fantastical names like those conjured by T.S. Eliot in his 1939 "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," they live in a very secure place. This animal-friendly city has already done much to protect the rights of animal residents.
There are no animal "owners" here. Anyone who cohabits with an animal is known as an animal "guardian." People who are disabled or senior citizens sharing a rent-controlled apartment with an animal in West Hollywood can't be evicted.
The city even provides pooper-scoopers and trash bags in parks so pet owners can clean up after Fido.
And other measures are under consideration to prohibit what many see as mutilations, according to City Council members.
However, the town has not banned the neutering of cats. "There is no prohibition. In fact we encourage it," said Tracy Bauer, a West Hollywood City Council staff member.
Hernan Molino, an aide to Councilman John Duran, said the council might ban ear- and tail-cropping next.
He said the city's attitude toward animals--they are never called pets--is a logical extension of the city's very progressive political agenda.
This is an upscale community with a large population of gays and lesbians that has a history of taking up liberal and cutting-edge causes. So it is not surprising that many people praised the new ban on declawing.
"The city became a city in 1984, and there was a movement composed of people with a progressive agenda, with liberal ideas," Molino said.
He said there was strong support for laws protecting seniors and gays and lesbians.
"Many people who live here do not have children. For them their animals are their children," Molino said. "So I think protecting animal rights is a natural extension of the [progressive] agenda."
There appears to be strong support among this city's 37,000 residents.
"Why should we have the right to take away an animal's means of self-defense?" said Bill Smith, a West Hollywood resident who talked about the new ordinance as he walked his dog.
It is difficult to say how effective the new law will be in curbing cat declawing. West Hollywood is a small place--just 1.9 square miles--surrounded by Los Angeles, where it remains legal to remove a cat's claws.
Many of those opposed to the declawing operation consider it cruel because it involves the amputation of the cat's front toes.
Veterinarians are reluctant to do the surgery and frequently counsel people with cats to try other measures to save their furniture. Training a cat to use a scratching post is one such measure. And now there are tiny plastic sheaths that fit on a cat's paws to blunt their destructive capabilities.
Molino said he started pressing for the declawing ban shortly after visiting a wildlife rescue station and being shown what was involved in the operation.
"It is horrible," he said. "It is an amputation."
Molino said that after he told his boss they began pushing for the law that took effect Wednesday.
About the same time that West Hollywood passed its ban, the city's representative in the California State Assembly sought to impose a statewide ban on the procedure. But Assemblyman Paul Koretz fell two votes short of getting his measure out of a legislative committee.
Among those opposed to the declawing ban was the California Veterinary Medical Association.
It argued that denying people the option of having an animal's claws removed could lead to an increase in the abandonment of cats, further straining crowded animal shelters.
West Hollywood has only three veterinarian offices, and they report carrying out very few onychectomies each year.
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
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More good news for cats!!
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08-05-2003 17:09
Stinger
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