Ban The Importation And Sale Of Fur In Scotland

The raising of animals for their fur is a practice currently banned within the UK because of the cruelty involved.

Many shops now import their fur from countries such as Russia, Finland and China where laws regarding animal welfare are far less strict than ours.

Animals (among them raccoon, bear, fox, rabbit, cats, dogs and mink to name a few) in these countries are raised to suffer in intolerable conditions before being removed from overcrowded cages before being anally or vaginally electrocuted , strangled, gassed or drowned before having the skin ripped from them. Some of these animals are still alive when it happens. Could you imagine the pain of being skinned alive? Would you let your pet be skinned alive? If not, why do we allow other countries to do it for us in the name of vanity, greed and profit?

This is the 21st Century where such barbarism is no longer tolerated. Many designers such as Stella McCartney produce wonderful faux fur products and many more are now moving away from real fur. While protesting the use of real fur I recently had the pleasure to speak to an older lady who said that the only fur coat she had had belonged to her deceased mother but that she would never wear it herself and would never sell it as it meant someone wearing an animal that did not ask to be killed. I can understand her keeping it as a sentimental object, though as her mother lived in a time when fur was deemed acceptable. It no longer is.

My beloved country of Scotland has always prided itself on being compassionate (we were the first country in the UK to allow same-sex marriage, after all). Why can't we be the first in leading the way against the barbarism of fur?

If the UK TRULY is a nation of animal lovers then let us be the leading light!