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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
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MONTH: January/February 2007
HSUS catches major retailers selling dog fur
NEW YORK CITY--The Macy's
fashion store chain on December 22, 2006 withdrew from sale two styles
of Sean John brand hooded jackets, after mass spectrometry testing commissioned
by the Humane Society of the U.S. revealed that "imitation rabbit
fur" and "faux fur" collars were made from the fur of tanuki
dogs, members of the domestic dog family with raccoon-like markings, native
to China and Korea.
"A Sean John snorkel jacket on sale
for $237.99 at Macys.com specifically identified the materials used as
'Nylon/faux fur/goose down,'" HSUS said. "When investigators
purchased the coat, they found that the labels read 'Made in China' and
'genuine raccoon fur.'"
"I was completely unaware of the
nature of this material. As soon as we were alerted, the garments were
pulled," designer Sean "Diddly" Combs said through publicist
Hampton Carney. "I have instructed our outerwear licensee to cease
the production of any garments using this material immediately."
Macy's "has a long-standing policy against selling any dog or cat
fur," spokesperson Orlando Veras told Associated Press business writer
Anne D'Innocenzio.
"Other mass spectrometry tests on
a range of fur-trimmed jackets revealed that most of the jackets labeled
as 'raccoon' or 'coyote' from China in fact contain fur from" tanuki,
said an HSUS media release. "Of ten garments tested, nine tested
positive" as mislabeled tanuki fur, a violation of the federal Fur
Products Labeling Act.
Retailers selling mislabeled tanuki included,
besides Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory, Bloomingdale's, J.C. Penney,
and Saks Fifth Avenue. Among the designers and clothing lines found to
be using mislabeled tanuki were Baby Phat, Andrew Marc, MaxMara, and Calvin
Klein.
Burlington Coat Factory on December 11,
2006 agreed to pull misleading signage from stores nationwide, and make
refunds to customers who inadvertently bought "faux" fur jackets
with internal labels that identified them as "Raccoon Fur of China
Origin," not possible since raccoons do not live in China, or "Genuine
Coyote Fur of China Origin," not possible because coyotes do not
live in China. Jackals, close kin to coyotes, do inhabit the Chinese western
desert.
"This is an industry-wide problem,"
said HSUS president Wayne Pacelle. "Our investigation demonstrates
that retailers and designers are not paying close enough attention to
composition of the fur trim they are selling. It's especially problematic
when the fur is sourced from China, where domestic dogs and cats and raccoon
dogs are killed in gruesome ways, even skinned alive. The safest course
of action is for Sean Combs and other designers and retailers to stop
using fur trim. That single act would solve the problem."
Because tanuki occur in the wild, though
the overwhelming majority are raised in captivity for fur and dog meat,
they are considered wild animals under U.S. law.
"HSUS is also calling on Congress
to amend the Dog and Cat Protection Act--which bans the sale of dog or
cat fur in the U.S.--to include" tanuki, said HSUS spokesperson Karen
L. Allanach, "since the animals are so inhumanely killed and the
species is similar to domesticated dogs.
"It would be jarring to the public to shop in a marketplace where dog and cat fur is banned, but coats labeled as 'raccoon dog' are still legally sold," Pacelle said.