fur trade

The International Otter Survival Fund today launched an anti-fur campaign. Furget-me-not is targeted at saving the otter, which it says is the forgotten animal of the fur trade. The campaign will raise funds to train local rangers and government staff in Cambodia, where many are hunted. But the main market for otter furs is Tibet where it forms part of the traditional dress.

The disappearance of hundreds of household cats has sparked calls for an official inquiry amid fears that they could have been killed, skinned and turned into blankets.

Concern has been fuelled by the existence of a legal Swiss trade in cat fur, which is reputed to be good for rheumatism. But cat blanket retailers have denounced allegations of widespread cat-napping across the border in France as absurd. They insist that they buy skins from wild felines killed in Switzerland and Britain.

When the men first sighted the beautiful baby antelope in the moonlight, it was past three o'clock in the morning.

The creatures were only a few hours old and still wobbling about on their spindly little legs. Mothers and grandmothers nuzzled them protectively. A single male stood guard, sniffing the air tentatively for any signs of danger.