The Independent on Sunday article ‘Dressed to Kill’

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Dear Sir/Madam,

Whilst the exposure given to the extent of the fur trade (and therefore its inherent cruelty) is welcome (Dressed to Kill, The Independent on Sunday 26th November) it is important that we get the facts right and a true perspective.

Fur statistics are truly awful. Some 55 million animals are now killed each year just for their fur worldwide, and the numbers are growing, fuelled by increasing demand from Russia, China and North Korea. That is more than one million animals slaughtered every week just for their fur - a product nobody needs.

Fur is still sold in the UK but at nowhere near the levels indicated in the article. Figures from Customs and Excise seem to have been misread. In 2005 nearly 1 million kilograms of fur (including sheepskins) were imported into the UK - not 1 million tons as reported. But, during the same year 546 tonnes were also exported.

Removing sheepskins and exports leaves net fur imports in 2005 as 202 tonnes - not a million. This is still appalling however and hypocritical since the UK has now banned the main ways in which fur is obtained (fur factory farming and steel-jawed leghold traps).

Fur sales have been relatively stable in the UK over recent years and, thankfully, this country is still essentially an anti-fur country.

Respect for Animals is dedicated to campaigning against the cruelty of the fur trade and has recently launched a ‘Fur Free Retailer’ program. We are proud to announce that Marks & Spencer, Topshop and the Co-op group have so far joined, promising that no real fur will ever appear in their stores.

One major problem is that many people believe that all fur, particularly fur trim, on sale on the high street is fake. It is not and people are unwittingly buying real fur and thereby propping up the cruel industry.

Real fur products should, by law, be labelled as an interim measure before the sale of real fur is banned - in the same way that it is illegal to sell whale products.

In the meantime, Respect for Animals would recommend that if buyers are in any doubt about whether fur in the shops is real or fake, don’t buy it. Give the animals the benefit of the doubt - particularly in the season of goodwill.

The article also says that there has been a sharp increase in the amount of seal skins imported into Britain. There is an import and export trade through the UK but as seal skin has to be labelled the actual retail trade appears be almost zero as the only seal skin we have found on sale in the UK are sporrans in Scotland. A ban on the import of seal products is long overdue, however, and the government should introduce one (joining the US, Mexico, Belgium and Croatia) as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,
Mark Glover

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