UPDATE: dog and cat fur trade

Many of you have been asking, and I want to give you all a quick update about our campaign to ban the import and sale of dog and cat fur in Canada.

Currently in Parliament, Anita Neville (MP, Liberal Winnipeg South) has a private member’s bill, Bill C-439, which, if passed, would amend the Hazardous Products Act and effectively ban products made with dog and cat fur from crossing the border into Canada.

But because our government system is super slow and archaic, there is a chance this bill will never see the light of day. And even if the bill passes, we also need to consider how dog and cat fur products will be identified and how the bill will be enforced. But in the meantime, do not get discouraged; a first step is necessary. We need to ban the import and sale of dog and cat fur.

We have been supporting Anita’s bill. You can read more about our dog/cat fur campaign here:
https://thefurbearers.com/campaigns/dog-cat-fur

We have also been distributing postcards to support Anita:
https://thefurbearers.com/resources/activism/postcards (see the postcard on the right hand side)

And our form email to MP’s is getting some success too:
https://thefurbearers.com/campaigns/dog-cat-fur/contact-your-mp

But despite our best efforts, the Government continues to deny that the cat and dog fur trade is a problem and that there is no real “proof”. In fact, we just got a response back from the Minister of Trade, Peter Van Loan, who says (in a nutshell) he isn’t going to ban it.
https://thefurbearers.com/downloads/PDFs/cat_dog_fur_responses_from_govt.pdf

In other news, the Fur-Bearers Society has sent several fur samples for testing, but unfortunately getting results is extremely difficult.

The main problem is that the chemical processingof fur is so vigorous, that it often destroys all traces of DNA.

DNA is important because unlike other testing methods, it can determine not only if the species is canine or feline, but also whether the species is DOMESTIC in origin (e.g., wolves and coyotes are canine, but not domestic). To make a long story short, our testing so far has been unsuccessful, but we continue to try other testing methods and are working on various angles all the time.

This is why your donation and continued membership is so important: it allows us to continue to test fur products and expose this horrific trade.

Regarding the dog and cat fur trade, here are the facts we know for sure:

1. The European Union, Australia and the United States have banned dog and cat fur… and Canada has not.

2. There are many videos and photos (largely from the Humane Society of the United States) regarding the global cat and dog fur trade. You can also buy these products easily online, so we know this trade truly exists.

3. We know that it remains LEGAL to import and sell dog and cat fur in Canada. We also know that, under the law, fur products are not required to be labelled; this further complicates this issue.

4. Lastly, it is very clear that the overwhelming majority of Canadians oppose the dog and cat fur trade.

So, the only thing we have yet to determine is specifically which stores are selling these products. That is difficult because testing fur samples is expensive and time-consuming, and because of the challenges of extracting DNA from heavily processed fur.

Solution?

Until we have positive test results, wewill just keep doing our best to raise awareness of the issue and keep encouraging people to contact their MP’s and urge them to be proactive and ban this cruel trade.

Should you wish to help raise awareness in your community, please feel free to print out our flyers or ask us to send you information to distribute.