FOURRURES DE CHINE

[Animal 0]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Trendy, affordable fur could be cat or dog
Graphic street display exposes shoppers to fashionista nightmare




WHERE: 201 Portage Ave. at Fort (north side of Portage, beside CanWest Global
Place)

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 12, 12:00 noon.

WHO: AnimalWatch Manitoba.

WHAT: Graphic three-dimensional display of trendy fur fashionista posing
stylishly next to one dog and two cats, strung up and partially skinned.


Winnipeg, December 12-Winnipeggers who love cats and dogs could wind up wearing
one if they jump aboard the fur fashion bandwagon this winter. And it could have
been skinned alive.

An investigation by the Humane Society of the United States of the Chinese and
southeast Asian fur industry in the late 1990s led to legislation in the United
States to keep dog and cat fur out of American stores. But no such laws have
been passed in Canada which imports most fur and fur-trimmed products from these
same countries.

According to AnimalWatch Manitoba (AWM), which unveils a graphic display on the
disturbing issue today at noon on Portage Avenue near Main, that's not the worst
of it.

"I have forced myself to watch scenes from a video of a raccoon dog being
skinned alive in an open air Chinese market," says Lesley Wise, co-director of
AnimalWatch Manitoba (AWM). "Such videos by animal protection agencies of
unspeakable acts of animal abuse should sicken anyone who thinks 'real fur is
fun.'"

This summer, investigators with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
confirmed that the trade in dog and cat fur is still thriving in Southern China
- and still appallingly inhumane. "Many of the animals we saw still had collars
on," PETA wrote, "a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions,
stolen to be made into fur coats."

PETA's video was featured in a BBC News report this November where a member of
the European Parliament estimated that two million cats and dogs are skinned
each year in southeast Asia.

"As more and more European countries ban dog and cat fur," says Wise, "Canada
becomes a bigger, softer export target."

According to AnimalWatch Manitoba, cheap Asian fur (mostly from China, Thailand,
Korea and the Philippines) from dogs, cats, rabbits and other brutally treated
animals is becoming the industry standard on coats, boots, scarves and other
accessories - even, ironically, on plush animal toys - sold in Winnipeg and
throughout Canada.

Although fur industry spokespersons have suggested that the videos of beaten
animals hung up and skinned alive are implausible and may have been staged, the
state-controlled Beijing News independently confirmed that the problem is
genuine early this year and just last night the Chinese government admitted the
same in a statement to Larry King Live. The videos show workers stepping on the
heads or necks of live animals who become a nuisance during skinning. Recently,
a Chinese government official told BBC News that Western demand is fuelling the
industry.

"AnimalWatch Manitoba believes the fur of any animal - dog, cat, fox or mink -
represents cruel and unnecessary killing," says Twyla Groening, co-director of
AWM. "But the disgusting production practices in China and southeast Asia are
particularly disturbing, because China and Korea are the source of most of the
fur worn by today's unsuspecting consumers."

It's easy to be fooled. According to the Canada Border Services Agency "there is
no federal legislation in Canada that requires [imported fur products] to
contain labels showing the type of animal or country of origin." In Europe, even
some products labelled "faux fur" have proven to be dog or cat when subjected to
DNA testing.

"If it isn't reputably labelled faux fur, there's no way of knowing if it wasn't
a brutally abused animal, farmed in horrific conditions or even snatched off the
streets of China and skinned alive," says Wise.

AnimalWatch Manitoba is a volunteer-operated, registered nonprofit organization
dedicated to protecting the dignity, welfare and natural interests of all
animals, wild and domesticated.




CONTACT: Lesley Wise: 981-5861 (cell), lwise@...

More information (including videos): www.animalwatch.ca/fur_dogaandcat.htm

Available to media on request and at the demonstration:

a.. DVDs and betacam video of key investigative videos, including footage from
the 2004-05 investigation by Care for the Wild International (UK), Swiss Animal
Protection and EAST International (Taiwan) in Henei Province, China. Includes
uncut sequence of a raccoon dog being slammed by its head to the ground, strung
up and skinned alive at a busy open air market. Thrown on the dead pile, the
fully skinned dog struggles to sit up, stares blinkingly toward the camera and
collapses where it continues to breathe for at least a minute. This December an
AWM director spotted leather coats made in China at a clothing chain store in
Winnipeg. They were trimmed with "raccoon fur."