Animal rights groups have slammed an international fur trade show in Hong Kong as putting animal cruelty “on full display.” The city’s role as a re-export hub for fur was “against the global trend,” an activist said.
Around ten activists staged a protest in Wan Chai on Thursday, which marked the opening of the 2024 Hong Kong International Fur & Fashion Fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).
Demonstrators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Fur Free Hong Kong and Animal Rights Education by NPV (ARE by NPV) posed as captive animals inside metal wire cages. They held signs reading “Animals suffer on fur farms” and chanted slogans including “Fur is murder.”
“Callousness and cruelty are on full display at Hong Kong’s fur fair, where every coat, piece of trim, or trinket made of fur comes from an animal who endured a terrifying and painful death,” PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker said in a statement released on Thursday.
The group called on people to fill their closets with vegan materials and end what they described as the “disgraceful” fur industry.
According to the Hong Kong Fur Federation website, the four-day convention features fur and leather garments, fur skins, furrier’s accessories, pelts and machinery.
Wendy Chan, founder of Fur Free Hong Kong, told HKFP on Thursday that the organiser was “not transparent” with the trade show information. The number of exhibitors and their country or region of origin was not available to the public, she said.
Tang went on to say that Hongkongers had a “high awareness” of the issues with the fur trade, and very few people would purchase such products. Although Hong Kong was not a key retail market for fur, the city served as centre for fur products to be reexported elsewhere, he said.
“The problem with Hong Kong is that it still wants to be a trading hub, which is against the global trend,” he said in Cantonese of the industry.
Another activist Louis Ng said many countries and regions have gradually halted production and retail lines for fur products. Fur was not a necessity, she added.
“In a modern society, people’s awareness about the protection of animals is heightened. Why should we advocate for such an industry in this civilised era?” the senior public relations and advocacy executive at ARE by NPV said in Cantonese.
HKFP reached out to the fur federation for comment.
According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Hong Kong was the sixth largest fur clothing exporter in the world in 2021. Most of the local furriers had set up production facilities in mainland China or in Southeast Asian countries, the research published in last May read.
Re-exports accounted for almost all fur clothing exports from Hong Kong, with mainland China being the origin of more than 80 per cent of the fur clothing exported from the city.
“[F]ur traders remain very active in Hong Kong, specialising in trade‑related services such as sales and marketing, quality control, logistic arrangement and fur design,” the HKTDC report read.
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