Cats and dogs are being farmed in Belgium for their fur, which is then used to make blankets, coats and gloves, according to evidence released on Thursday.
Videotaped footage of Belgian furriers explaining how the secretive trade operates was gathered by undercover investigators working for the American campaign group Humane Society International (HSI).
One of the furriers is clearly heard to claim that cats are farmed in Belgium. Another says that stray cats and dogs, including lost pets, are rounded up on the streets of Brussels and Ghent and slaughtered.
The evidence was presented at the European parliament by a cross-party panel of Members of European Parliament (MEP).
The British Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson held up a rug which he said was made from four golden retrievers. He also displayed a coat purportedly fashioned from the pelts of 42 Alsatian puppies, and a figurine of a cat which DNA tests had shown to contain cat fur.
Farming for cat and dog fur was known to take place in China and the Far East but until yesterday there was no evidence of it on European Union (EU) soil.
MEPs called for a ban on the sale of the products, which remain legal throughout the EU, apart from Italy.
They also claimed that in many cases consumers were unaware of exactly what they were buying because goods were falsely labelled.
The goods are sold throughout Europe.
”It’s not only happening in Europe,” said Stevenson. ”It’s happening right under the noses of the EU institutions.” – Guardian Unlimited Â