NEWS RELEASE
From the office of the Green MEPs


21 January, 2004

BELGIUM BANS TRADE IN CAT, DOG AND SEAL FUR - LONDON GREEN MEP WELCOMES BAN, CALLS ON UK TO FOLLOW SUIT

BELGIUM has banned the import or sale of fur from cats, dogs and seals in response to pre-Christmas protests by animal welfare campaigners.

Green Party Euro-MP Jean Lambert welcomed the decision, and called on the
UK to follow suit. The London MEP said: "The UK must follow Belgium's example by banning
this particularly cruel and despicable trade immediately."

Mrs Lambert said: "Cats and dogs are suffering appalling cruelty to satisfy the European market for cheap fur, must of which is sold to consumers who haven't the faintest idea what they are buying.

"In some cases the cats and dogs are hanged, and in some cases are skinned alive, according to evidence presented to the European Parliament by undercover investigators last May. This flies in the face of animal welfare standards - not to mention common decency - and the trade must be
banned in the UK, and the rest of the EU, without delay."

Belgium's ban, which was announced earlier this week, follows Italy's decision to ban the trade in cat and dog fur last year - but makes it the first EU state to ban the trade in seal fur.

Opponents have argued a UK ban could fall foul of free trade rules unless it is backed by an EU-wide ban, but neither Italy nor Belgium have been subject to complaints to the WTO. More than two million cats and dogs a year are slaughtered by fur exporters in China alone, much of the fur
destined for toys and clothes sold as 'rabbit fur' in European street markets.

ENDS

For more information please contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280, 07973 823358 or at press@greenmeps.org.uk