Liberal Democrat Councillors Julia Turner and Chris Gloster will be proposing a motion at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 12 September) calling on the Council to outlaw the sale of real fur from all markets in the Borough.

Councillor Turner, who is proposing the motion, said: “Regrettably customers often have no idea that they are buying products which contain real fur as they are often sold under the guise of ‘faux fur’. Real fur is sometimes used for trims on hats, gloves, and footwear, and pom-poms on hats and clothing. Although the UK banned domestic fur farming in 2000, it is still legal to sell products containing some types of real fur that have been imported. Imported fur can be very cheap, but it comes at a price of extreme cruelty to the animals it came from.”

“100 million animals every year are killed for fur. Much of the fur we import into our country comes from China, where there is practically no animal welfare legislation. It comes from animals raised in deplorable conditions and killed by gassing or anal electrocution. There have even been instances filmed of animals being skinned alive. Other animals are cruelly trapped in the wild by steel jawed leg-hold traps. Once caught, many go to great lengths to try to escape, often breaking teeth as they bite the steel trap, sometimes even chewing off their trapped limbs in their desperation.”

The Oldham Liberal Democrats want the Council to become a signatory to the Fur Free Markets campaign of the animal welfare charity, Respect for Animals, the UK’s leading anti-fur organisation, and to work with the charity to ensure that no products containing real fur are sold at the borough’s markets.

Councillor Turner added: “I am sure that the vast majority of shoppers would be horrified to find they had accidentally purchased a real fur product knowing the abominable cruelty that these animals suffer. By working with the charity Respect for Animals, we can ensure that real fur products are banned in Oldham.”

The motion reads:

 This Council notes that:

• The United Kingdom has outlawed the farming of animals for their fur on ethical grounds since 2000 and that the use of one of the most common traps used to catch animals for their fur has been illegal for many years.
• Nonetheless fur products are imported from overseas nations, particularly China, where such bans do not operate and where there is virtually no animal welfare legislation in force.
• Real fur comes from animals raised in deplorable conditions or trapped in the wild and killed inhumanely.
• Regrettably these products are often found for sale on public markets in the UK and customers can inadvertently buy them thinking them to be made of imitation fur.

Accordingly Council resolves to:

• Prohibit the sale of any product wholly or partially made with real animal fur on Council owned land and at Council run or Council leased markets. This ban to cover such items as fur coats, vintage fur, fur shawls, garments with fur trim, fur pompom hats, and fur accessories and trinkets.
• Support the Fur Free Markets campaign of the animal welfare charity, Respect for Animals, the UK’s leading anti-fur organisation, by:
• Becoming a signatory to the initiative.
• Seeking the advice and assistance of the charity in the enforcement of this ban.