PAF

The Chinese fur industry is skinning cats and dogs alive for use in clothes and fashion accessories, and we need your help to stop it.

A horde of grisly evidence recently turned up in European stores, including a coat stitched together from 40 German shepherd puppies and a rug made from four golden retrievers.

As shocking as this is, it shouldn't be surprising. In addition to causing miserable lives and sadistic deaths for millions of fur-bearing animals, the fashion industry has a deadly secret. The secret is where fur comes from, and it's not what most people think.

Many of the fur items hanging in stores today are made from domestic dogs and cats.

Mislabeled as Asian jackal, raccoon, or even rabbit, millions of dogs and cats are being killed for their fur—including some who are still wearing the collars that their loving guardians chose for them.

This is the dirty secret of the Chinese fur industry and the international fur trade that supports it—one that we discovered in a daring undercover investigation.

Our investigators went into an animal market in Southern China and found that cats and dogs were languishing—with 20 cats crammed into a tiny cage. Some had been on the road for days—transported without any food or water. There were dead and dying cats and dogs everywhere, some with open wounds.

These are the animals who end up as fur collars on coats or as lining for winter boots or gloves. Their fur is sold to unsuspecting consumers in some of the best-known American and European stores.

We must make this stop. We need to keep the pressure on the Chinese government as well as the fashion retailers who provide a market for dog and cat fur until they finally reject this abominable industry. Working together, I know that we can stop this cruel practice and save millions of animals each year. We've already convinced many top retailers and designers to take the fur-free pledge, and with dozens more taking initial steps toward compassion, I have seen how effective our campaigns can be.

Now we need to address one of the most unimaginably cruel industries so we never have to witness the likes of that animal market ever again.

Thank you for everything you do for animals.

With gratitude,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. While you're reading this e-mail, cats and dogs are being sold for their fur in animal markets in China. Please help us protect animals from being fur.