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More fur trade issues to campaign about!

Kittykat23uk

Mama Doe
Taken from the CAFT website:

http://www.caft.org.uk/ships-cats.html

Cats
Fur animals
Gift and card shops around the country are selling ornamental / novelty gift animals made of real fur. They come in various shapes and sizes and most are of cats and dogs.


One of the main suppliers of these is a Surrey-based company Nauticalia Ltd who sell cats that look as though they are sleeping. These are called Intrepid Ship’s Cats and are retailed at around £25 each. The company claims they are made from rabbit fur from animals killed in China.

Others, from other companies, are shaped as small cats and dogs in baskets, and sell at a few pounds. There are also a wider variety of animals standing at about 15cm high.

All of these ornaments claim to be made from rabbit fur, although investigations in the United States found a large number of similar ones to be made from the fur of domestic cats and dogs.

The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade opposes the use of all animal fur. We believe that the suffering and death of animals cannot be justified to supply such a trade.

Rabbit fur comes from two sources - rabbits raised specifically for their fur, and rabbits raised primarily for their meat. The conditions in which the animals are raised (usually factory farming where they are crammed into bare wire cages and denied the ability to perform natural behaviours such as jump, run or dig) are similar, as is their death. Death is usually by neck-breaking or the throat being slit. The rabbits will also suffer when being transported between farm and market and / or slaughter, and are often roughly handled.

In Britain it is illegal to breed animals solely or primarily for their fur. Therefore most fur, including some rabbit fur, sold in Britain is produced in a way that would be illegal in this country.

Some people may think that if the fur is a 'by-product' of the meat trade then its use is acceptable. But one must consider the suffering of the animals whatever the purpose of that suffering. We don't need toys made from real fur so how can the use of rabbit fur be justified? The use of real fur financially supports the ways in which the animals are raised and killed. It also promotes the general use of real fur - the fur trade kills 40 million animals a year worldwide, breeding them in barren cages where they go mad and mutilate themselves, or trapping them in vicious leg hold traps where many try to escape by gnawing off their own limbs. The use of rabbit fur for these toys is no different. By buying any real fur these are the acts that you are paying for.

With such an abundance of high quality synthetic materials there is no need to use real animal fur.

Some of the shops selling these toys, and many of the people buying them, do not even realise they are made from real fur until groups such as CAFT point it out to them.


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What you can do
Do not buy these fur animals. Check carefully before buying anything - if you are not 100% certain that it is synthetic then don't buy it.
Complain to any shop you see selling these toys, and send us their details so that we can contact them.
CAFT contacts companies selling these and other real fur products. We provide them with information on the cruelties and ask them to stop selling real fur. If they refuse we publish their details and ask others to write polite letters to them. We also support protests outside shops selling real fur.
Contact Nauticalia now expressing your disgust at them selling fur products. Ask them to stop selling them, and tell them you, your friends and family will boycott them until them stop!

Nauticalia can be contacted at:
Mr Lynn Lewis, Nauticalia Ltd, The Ferry Point, Ferry Lane, Shepperton-on-Thames, TW17 9LQ
Tel: 01932 244396 Fax: 01932 241679
e-mail: mailorder@nauticalia.com



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CAFT Comments on Nauticalia’s “Intrepid Ships’ Cats”
Nauticalia Ltd, a ‘Marine Traditionalists’ company, are selling novelty gifts made of real rabbit fur. Unwilling to respond to individual concerns about the sale of real fur products they instead send a standard reply to people who contact them. Some of you may have also seen their 4-page leaflet designed to respond to CAFT’s campaign. This is our response to that letter and leaflet.

Nauticalia claim that these are not ‘toys’ but a “tribute to cats whose exploits have been recorded in maritime history” and that they are “warmly received … by people who, for one reason or another, are unable to keep a real cat, but can get some companionship from them.”


These cats are novelty gifts. The original intention may well have been to produce something relating to cats in maritime history but lets not gloss over the fact that these are novelty gifts. Internet gift company iwantoneofthose.com was a bit more honest in trading these cats as ‘seat savers’ with the ‘humorous’ idea that people won’t disturb a sleeping cat. There are people who genuinely get comfort from animals but are unable to look after one in their home, which is why groups such as Pets As Therapy visit hospitals and nursing homes to provide a service to those people; this is far different from the Ships’ Cats. Can people really get comfort from stroking the fur of dead rabbits?

Nauticalia claim that they "would not enter into these transactions if this would encourage any form of exploitation of animals which could affect their welfare."

An animal's welfare can't be ‘affected’ any more than by being killed. By buying and using rabbit fur Nauticalia is supporting the conditions in which the animals are raised and killed. The evidence we have seen of rabbit farming leaves us beyond doubt that the animals suffer.

Nauticalia claim that the rabbit fur is “a by-product of sustenance food farming” in a rural province of China. They claim the rabbits are not intensively reared

They have failed to give any evidence of where the fur comes from or any information that would allow us to independently verify the conditions in which the animals are bred and killed. Animal protection groups in Asia have agreed to check the farms on behalf of CAFT if we can obtain details of their location.

We have been provided evidence of cruelty in the farming and killing of rabbits in China, particularly at the meat markets. This shows animals crammed into tiny cages amongst the heat, smell and noise of the markets, and their rough handling and slaughter in front of other rabbits. We have been provided with photos depicting a rabbit skinned alive. No wonder Nauticalia don’t want us to see where they get the fur from.
Nauticalia’s leaflet states that the rabbit meat “is also frozen for supply in thousands of tons for human consumption and pet food via major European supermarkets.” Hardly a ‘cottage industry’ meeting the needs of local people.

Nauticalia claims it sees no connection between where it gets its fur and “cruelty to animals caused by careless handling by traders”

Is there a difference between the two? Do Nauticalia really believe that “peasants in small subsistence communities” are not capable of cruelty? It is actually far more likely that the breeding and killing of rabbits in rural communities is less likely to be monitored than in the town markets, and that these people will be less affected by international concern about the treatment of animals.

Nauticalia state “we do not feel that it is our place to make a judgement on the minority argument against the eating of meat or use of animal hides for clothing”

By buying and selling rabbit fur Nauticalia are responsible for the animals’ welfare. This is not a general argument about the morals of eating meat, it is about the cruelty involved in producing this product – and who actually needs a ornamental cat made of rabbit fur anyway?

Nauticalia claims that there is “a general prejudice among some animal rights activists” about Chinese people and cruelty to animals

CAFT is totally opposed to racism and racist comments. However, we believe that this is another smokescreen created by Nauticalia to move the debate away from the real issue – cruelty to animals. CAFT is opposed to all animal cruelty worldwide, whether it takes place in Britain or China. The fur used by Nauticalia comes from China so we must expose the way in which it is ‘produced’ there.

Nauticalia claim to “take comments from the public most seriously”

So why do they not reply to individual concerns? And why do they tell shops stocking these ornaments “We hope retailers will be able to avoid getting into time-consuming discussions with objectors. You may find it best to tell them you do not have enough information to do so.” Are Nauticalia asking shops to lie to customers? Shouldn’t they provide the shops with information so that they can decide whether to stock the toys?

They further tell shops: “If customers remain unsatisfied with these explanations please pass our address on to them and invite them to write to us. We will respond to all such correspondence … relieving you of any further action” – don’t allow the shops to do this, demand a response from them, not a standard letter off Nauticalia.

At a trade fair at which Nauticalia was selling the Cats, an undercover CAFT investigator spoke to their sales rep. The rep told CAFT how to deal with protesters: “what the retailers are saying to the protesters is ‘look I’ll finish this batch and I won’t stock them again’. That seems to satisfy them, but then who’s to say when that batch is finished, or whether you order any more?”

Nauticalia claimed to donate 25p from the sale of every cat to animal welfare charities

All donations were made anonymously so that recipient charities did not know that the donation comes from Nauticalia or that it is the result of the sale of fur. Nauticalia failed to respond to our requests for a list of the charities, but CAFT spoke to four charities that had been given money. All of these, on being informed about the source of the money, asked to be removed from the list of beneficiaries as they don’t support the fur trade.
This claim is clearly being used as a selling point and to try and reassure people who wouldn’t normally buy real fur – some people will think that it must be ok if animal welfare charities are ‘involved’.

Nauticalia make various allegations about CAFT

They have insinuated that our use of a Post Office Box number is somehow questionable. The majority of animal rights groups use a PO Box for security reasons. Like virtually all campaign groups we are not a registered charity as that would prevent us from campaigning for a change in the law. One Nauticalia shop manager has even been telling people that CAFT is based in Spain and we were also told that Nauticalia staff were claiming that CAFT had no problem with the rabbit fur product at all!

CAFT firmly believe that these cats are a result of practices that can cause great cruelty to the rabbits and that it is ethically wrong to kill animals for luxury or novelty items. Nauticalia has failed to provide any evidence to back up any of its claims and is attempting to disassociate itself from the cruelty when it fact it is partly responsible for the death of countless numbers of animals for its product.

What you can do
Please continue to contact Nauticalia with your complaints until you receive satisfactory answers: Mr Lynn Lewis, Managing Director, Nauticalia Ltd, The Ferry Point, Ferry Lane, Shepperton-on-Thames, TW17 9LQ Tel: 01932 244396 Fax: 01932 241679 e-mail: shop@nauticalia.com
Complain to any shop selling the fur cats and don't let them dismiss your concerns
Let us know of any shop selling the cats so that we can write to them and ask others to
Order some of our leaflets and protest against any shop that refuses to stop selling the cats
Make a donation to CAFT to support our campaign
 
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