McCartney boycotts China over fur
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; Posted: 3:40 p.m. EST (20:40 GMT)
LONDON, England -- Former Beatle Paul McCartney has said he will never perform in China after watching a video of dogs and cats being killed for the fur trade.
The ex-Beatle was given a preview screening of undercover footage taken in a fur market in Guangzhou, southern China.
Dogs and cats packed in tiny crates are shown being thrown from the top deck of a bus onto concrete pavements.
In another piece of footage, cats are seen alive inside a sack before being thrown into boiling water. Laughing workers were filmed stabbing and beating the animals to death.
The report was filmed by an investigator linked to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) campaign group, and given to the BBC.
Before broadcasting the video to the public, the BBC showed the film to McCartney and his wife, Heather.
McCartney said: "This is barbaric. Horrific. It's like something out of the dark ages. And they seem to get a kick out of it. They're just sick, sick people.
"I wouldn't even dream of going over there to play, in the same way that I wouldn't go to a country that supported apartheid.
"This is just disgusting. It's just against every rule of humanity. I couldn't go there. If they want to consider themselves a civilized nation they're going to have to stop this."
The animal rights campaigner added: "How can the host nation of the Olympics be seen allowing animals to be treated in this terrible way?"
Heather McCartney said: "I've seen so much footage where these poor creatures are clearly alive then they're skinned. And for what? For fashion? It's sick.
"People in every other country in the world should now boycott Chinese goods." |