China's role as the world's largest exporter of fur garments, with direct links to European and Asian countries, including Taiwan, deserves sharp criticism because of its lack of respect for life, animal rights activists from the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) said yesterday.
EAST released a report on the Chinese fur industry in Taipei yesterday. It is the first ever report from inside China's fur farms and is based on field and desk research carried out last year and last month.
EAST worked in conjunction with groups in Switzerland and the UK, including Swiss Animal Protection, Social Progress for Animal Welfare and Care for the Wild International.
PHOTO: ENVIRONMENT AND ANIMAL SOCIETY OF TAIWAN
At a press conference, video footage taken during researchers' visits to several farms in Hebei Province -- which were raising from 50 to 6,000 animals -- was shown for the first time to the media in Asia.
Animals such as raccoons, foxes, and minks were shown being stunned with repeated blows to the head or by being pounded against the ground. The debilitated animal was then laid on its back or hung upside-down by its hind legs from a hook, and skinning would begin, with a knife inserted in the lower belly.
According to EAST's director, Chen Yu-min (
"We suspect that consumers buying fur products don't know about the brutality involved in the process. Innocent animals suffer for the fashion vanity of humans," Chen said.
According to the report, many animals remained alive after their skin had been stripped off, with breathing, heartbeat, as well as body and eyelid movements all evident for five to 10 minutes.
The report says most Chinese fur farms were established in the past 10 years. Wild species bred for fur include red foxes, Arctic foxes, raccoons, dogs, mink and Rex rabbits.
Wu Hung (
Most animals are killed at about six months old, when they molt for the first time.
Activists said a growing number of international fur traders, processors and fashion designers have gradually shifted business to China, where cheap labor and the absence of restrictive regulations have made it easier to do business and widened profit margins.
Activists said that in the past few years designers have promoted fur in everything from evening wear to sports wear. One fur coat requires the fur of about 80 minks or 25 foxes.
Government statistics in Taiwan suggest that the amount of fur products imported from overseas has increased dramatically, rising from 1,497kg in 2001 to 9,944kg in 2003.
Fur products imported from China, meanwhile, have also increased significantly. In 2003, more than 70 percent of fur products imported were from China. Last year, the percentage rose to 85 percent.
"Why do some consumers in Taiwan, which sits in a sub-tropical area ... need fur products to keep them warm?" Chen said.
Activists said entertainers in show business should take the lead to boycott fur products.
"In China's fur industry, we don't see any spirit to help the weak and aid the needy. Seeing this crime, Taiwan should not become an accomplice," Mary Chen (
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS