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The tag won't say "tabby cat," "Labrador retriever" or "German shepherd," but some of the fur coats and fur-trimmed gloves, hats and boots sold in popular retail stores in the United States may be made from dogs and cats who were killed in China in some of the most grisly ways imaginable. An investigation into the dog and cat fur trade has roused even the most complacent of consumers to join the fight against fur and given animal rights activists even more ammunition against an already immoral industry.

Chinese Animal Torture
In the summer of 2005, investigators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) traveled to an animal market in Guangzhou in Southern China and found dogs and cats packed inside tiny wire-mesh cages, visibly exhausted. Many had been on the road for days with no food or water. Some were so lethargic that they could barely move. Others were aggressive and fought constantly, having been driven insane from confinement and exposure. They were covered in gaping wounds. Many animals slowly perished in their cages; other dead bodies were piled on top of the cages. Some of the animals still wore collars, a sign that they were once someone's beloved companions.

As many as 8,000 dogs and cats were loaded onto each truck in crowded cages stacked on top of one another. One by one, the cages were tossed from the top of the truck to the ground 10 feet below, often shattering the legs of the animals inside. The animals were lifted out with long metal tongs and thrown over a 7-foot fence to be killed and skinned. They were bludgeoned, hanged, boiled, bled to death or strangled with wire nooses. Many were still alive while their skin was being peeled away.

The fur stripped from the bodies of these suffering animals is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from another species and exported to other countries to be sold in retail stores. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States.

A spokesperson for the Chinese ambassador in London told the BBC News, "Though cats and dogs are not endangered, we do not encourage the ill treatment of cats and dogs. But, anyway, the fur trade mostly feeds markets in the U.S. and Europe. Most of this fur is not for the Chinese market. So the Americans and Europeans should accept the blame. We have no plans to clamp down on this internally that I am aware ofit is for the U.S. and Europeans to take their own action. They should boycott fur as a fashion material."

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