Protest the use of real fur at Nauticalia: sample letter, phone, fax

BACKGROUND | FROM CAFT

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.


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 they stop!

WHOM TO CONTACT

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

SAMPLE LETTER, COURTESY WSPA

To Whom It Concerns,

It is my understanding that your stores are currently stocking and selling fur products. This is of great concern to myself, family, friends, and colleagues due to the inherent cruelty involved in the production of fur –arguably the most indefensible of uses of animals.

All animals used for fur, whether they are trapped or farmed, experience intense suffering.  Globally, 85 percent of fur used in fashion comes from animals raised on fur farms, 80 per cent of which are in China, where there is no animal protection legislation. The fur industry makes its huge profits by using poor conditions to keep production costs to the bare minimum, and millions of animals every year are forced to endure the most profound indifference to their suffering, dignity, and most basic needs – all in the name of fashion.

On fur farms all over the world, animals are kept in appalling conditions, crammed into row after row of tiny barren cages, and left to stand on metal bars for their entire lives. Such conditions fail to accommodate even their most basic natural behaviours. Even the methods of slaughter, including electrocution and live skinning, are designed to protect the pelts without any consideration for the animals’ suffering.

Please watch the following video illustrating the cruelty involved in fur farming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cz8XLh5crDA

In light of the extreme animal suffering involved in fur production, many countries have already banned the production of fur.  For example, an increasing number of European countries have introduced legislation to curtail or prohibit the production of all fur, including the UK, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Additionally,the European Union and United States have already implemented bans on the trade in fur of dogs and cats. In addition to these great legislative achievements, many national and international retailers have ceased selling fur and have put their fur-free commitment in writing by signing onto the international Fur-Free Retailer programme.

It is my appeal to you to respond to the cruelty inherent in fur production by ceasing the sale of fur and signing up as an official fur-free retailer:

http://www.furfreeshopping.com/a_program.php. 

You have the opportunity to send a vital message to the fur industry and to your concerned customers: fur is of a bygone age and to breed and kill animals just for fashion or luxury is at complete odds with contemporary understanding of animal sentience.

I hope you will decide to eliminate all fur from your stores after considering this information.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the points raised in this letter.

Sincerely,

See More:

• Fur-Free & Vegan Retailers
• Fur | Skin

Fur is not an item to wear
Unless you were born
With it,
It is not meant to share

Karen Lyons Kalmeson