Sale of clothes containing fur in shops in Britain will be banned

The UK government is drawing up plans to prohibit the sale of clothes containing fur in shops after Britain leave the European Union's single market and customs union. This is the result of Brexit. The government is currently negotiating a Brexit agreement with the European Union and it looks more hopeful at the moment. 

The European Union banned the import and sale of fur from domestic cats and dogs across the EU in 2009. However, an investigation by the Humane Society International in the UK discovered that fur described as faux fur is in fact real and can be found in some clothes and shoes. Faux fur is not better than the real thing.

Objectionable fur clothing. Photo: Pixabay. Note: I am not criticising this man
who is probably a model. Also I am not sure if the fur is fake or genuine.

The point to make is this: it is very pleasing to animal advocates that the UK government is going to put an end to the sale of clothes containing fur in the UK starting next year (all being well) but they will have to be particularly observant and rigourous in weeding out real fur masquerading as faux fur. My research indicates that faux fur is actually more expensive to reduce than the real thing, which is a terrible indictment of the amount of cruelty perpetrated on captive animals who are killed for their skins.

Apparently the faux fur is cat fur. Retailers should take responsibility for ensuring that the fur on the clothes that they sell is genuinely false. They should trace the source and insist that their suppliers provide certificates that their products are genuinely faux fur. Genuine fur disguised as faux fur is apparently quite a big issue in the high street. Fur traders find ways to wriggle around regulations.

I sincerely hope that the British government get a handle on this. There are a lot of unscrupulous producers, wholesalers and retailers who don't care about animal welfare. Changing the law and banning the sale of fur in clothes in the High Street in the UK is not enough although very welcome. There needs to be strict enforcement which is going to prove very difficult.

The move to ban fur in shops is being driven by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park who is the Defra minister with responsibility for animal welfare. He is working, as I understand it, with Carrie Symonds, Boris Jonson's partner who as we all know is a keen animal advocate. The ban would be a strong signal of Britain's post-Brexit freedoms. It would be very popular because opinion polls have indicated that about 80% of Briton's think that fur on clothes are unacceptable nowadays. They dislike the trade in fur. Northern Ireland will be exempt from this proposal because they remain in the EU's single market and customs rules.

The British Fur Trade Association, as expected, say that the proposals are "irrational, illiberal and misjudged". Animal advocates would say the same thing about the association. It is time for change, there is no doubt about it.

Are Oriental Shorthairs healthy?

Like most purebred, pedigree cats Oriental Shorthairs (OSH) have inherited certain health problems due to selective breeding. One major issue for me, is that there is a family of Siamese cats which includes the Oriental Shorthair. They are all centred around the Siamese cat because the Siamese cat is in their breeding lines. And the problem here is that, on my reckoning, and based upon my extensive research, the Siamese cat has the most inherited health problems of any cat breed. So the question is: is the Oriental Shorthair susceptible to many of the medical problems that potentially affect the Siamese cat?

Oriental SH - photo: Helmi Flick

In addition to that long list of possible illnesses it is said that these animals are susceptible to respiratory illnesses and cardiomyopathy has also been reported in some lines. This information is according to Dr Ross D Clark DVM in his book Medical, Genetic and Behavioural Aspects of Purebred Cats.

A pet insurance company say that the OSH can suffer from progressive retinal atrophy and glaucoma. In addition, about nine years ago I wrote an article about hepatic amyloidosis in Siamese and Oriental cats. The article was based upon information provided by a visitor to the website, Lisa Lyons, who lives with Oriental Shorthair cats. The symptoms of hepatic amyloidosis include jaundice, a high white cell count, a low red blood cell count, vomiting, anaemia, general malaise and cyst damage to the liver causing bleeding. It is a very serious disease which is incurable and fatal. Some cats die within 2 to 3 years. That does not paint a very pretty picture in terms of the possible health problems affecting the Oriental Shorthair cat. But I have to be truthful and straightforward in answering the question in the title.

I would recommend that you read my page on Siamese cat health problems. It might surprise you. I decided at the Siamese cat was the most unhealthy cat in the world certainly amongst all the pedigree cats.

Cat and dog owners won't obey governments if they insist that their animals are quarantined because of Covid-19

It's emerging, gradually, that a considerable percentage of cats and dogs can get Covid-19 from their owners. They even have the same symptoms. A recent study suggested that 88% of cats contracted the disease from their owners or other people in the home as they had Covid -19 antibodies in their blood. And their owners said that they had symptoms similar to theirs such as breathing problems. Where does it leave us?

Montage: PoC. Pics in the public domain.

If further research reveals that our beloved cats and dogs present a danger to their owners because they are a pool or reservoir for the disease then it may come to pass that governments place restrictions over cat and dog ownership. I'm speculating wildly but it seems quite feasible that this may happen. It depends how the coronavirus pandemic develops. However, it is not going away. A second spike is developing and winter is arriving. Humankind is depending on a vaccine to see us through this and to get back to normal.

However, we know that vaccines take a long time to develop (many years normally). We also know that vaccines are less effective in people who are overweight and obese. In Britain around 60% of the population are overweight. Will a Covid-19 vaccine arrest the disease sufficiently for life to get back to normal? These are known unknowns but there's no doubt that we're going to have to live with this disease for the foreseeable future, perhaps indefinitely. That being said, I can see restrictions being placed upon pet ownership. Even today there are calls by some experts to treat companion animals who have showed signs of having the disease in the same way that we treat people who've had the disease. This means social distancing from our companion animals.

I foresee that this is going to be impossible to do and to enforce. It's also going to cause some consternation. And here's the deal: people are becoming tired of being dictated to by governments on how to curb the spread of this disease. A lot of people regard the current regulations as an attack on their freedoms and civil rights. They'd rather take the risk of getting the disease that have their rights constantly curtailed and restricted. Therefore governments will lose their authority. There may be civil unrest. We are seeing it already in fact with people responding angrily well asked to wear a face covering inside shops by staff members.

My personal view is that people should adopt the Swedish model which means going for herd immunity and taking the risk of getting the disease. People should make their own decisions. They are sensible enough in my view. Older people and those who are more vulnerable can self isolate and protect themselves while younger people can get on with life normally. Leave the decision-making to the citizens rather than dictate downward to them from a floundering government which is failing going forward, stumbling and making mistakes as they go. 

The citizens can apply common sense to their own individual situations provided the government gives them all the information that they need to make those decisions. They should give clear statements to the public about the risks so that people can judge for themselves. This will allow for a much more finely tuned and nuanced approach to tackling the virus.

The government say that they have followed the science but it seems to me that they have followed a very narrow form of science. We regularly see two senior science officials. One is an epidemiologist and the other is the chief medical officer for the country. What about the behavioural sciences? I think the UK government needs to take a wider picture. At the moment they're focusing on saving lives and keeping down the infection rates at the expense of the economy. I feel greater emphasis needs to be placed on the economy. After all, at the moment although the infection rates are showing a second spike, the death rates are probably lower than many other illnesses on a month by month basis. We are not locking down the country for reasons of cancer for instance.

Polystyrene cooling boxes modified to be used as homes for feral cats

Photo: Regina Cat Rescue on Facebook

This is a cool (excuse the pun) way to quickly make feral cat homes. They keep the cats warm during winter which is coming up. The idea comes from Regina Cat Rescue. They are based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The boxes were used to transport blood products before they were modified by the volunteers. It's great to see recycling like this. Last year they found that the boxes kept a temperature of 20°C during the winter. I presume this is with a cat inside! They hand out about 75 shelter boxes annually to residents who want to help feral cats in the area. I flag up some potential health issues with Styrofoam in another post.

Source: CBC.

Greater bilbies are to learn how to be frightened of feral cats

In a NSW conservation programme the Australian authorities are going to put greater bilbies into an enclosure where there are a limited number of feral cats. Those which learn to survive will then procreate and teach their offspring to survive in a landscape where there are feral cats. The objective is to create a large enough group of greater bilbies with an inherent fear of feral cats and the means to avoid them so that they can be released into the wild in Australia and survive.

Great bilby atTaronga Zoo. Photo Rhett WymanCREDIT:
RHETT WYMANAdd caption

The experts are calling it "accelerated evolution". It's a reference to the fact that this small native marsupial species did not have time, they think, to evolve avoidance skills of predators such as feral cats. They are giving them the chance to evolve quickly and develop that skill so that they can prosper in an environment where there are too many feral cats according to the authorities.

It's another take on how to protect native species. The authorities believe you either kill the predators or you train the prey animals or both at which point the prey animal has a greater chance of survival in the wild.

It had been thought that greater bilbies were extinct in the wild in New South Wales. They are rabbit-sized marsupials. The plan kicks off by placing 10 bilbies, five of each sex, into a 2,000 ha enclosure, within the Sturt National Park, which is free of feral cats and other predators (I presume). This small group of ten were bred in a zoo and selected to be as wild as possible. Once they have bred in their 2000 ha enclosure they will be placed with feral cats into a much larger Wildlife Training Zone within the National Park. The government is backing the program to the tune of AU$8 million.it is expected that it will take two years before the animals are released into the wild as I understand it. They are fast breeders!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.