On Fri, 09 May 2003 12:31:01 GMT, "Michelle Fulton"
wrote:

Campaigners accuses the European Commission of lacking the
political will to address the issue, arguing that the trade
is not only morally repugnant, but also a case of consumer fraud.

Why would it be worse to kill a cat or dog for their fur, than to kill a
beaver, fox, rabbit or mink?

Well, it does not come out very clearly from the quote you make above,
although the text does indicate the direction of stated concerns.

'morally repugnant' points to cat and dog skins frequently originating
from animals kept, treated and slaugtered in ways that are in
disaccord with our standards of animal welfare, and 'consumer fraud'
points to the likelihood that the skins are brought to market and sold
to consumers as being from something else than cats and dogs.

For completion, and behind this, cats and dogs are by a combination of
nature and tradition 'companion animals' -- a cat or a dog partake
in many people's lives as a companion or friend, naturally leading to
a higher than normal interspecies empathy.