Dog Fur Found In Many Popular Clothing Brands
The HSUS conducted mass spectrometry tests on a range of fur-trimmed jackets – from retailers such as Burlington Coat Factory, Bloomingdale’s, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue, and from designers and clothing lines such as Baby Phat, Andrew Marc, MaxMara, and Calvin Klein – and revealed that most of the jackets labeled as "raccoon" or "coyote" from China in fact contain fur from raccoon dogs. Of the ten garments tested by The HSUS, nine tested positive as raccoon dog fur and were mislabeled, a violation of federal law.
Due to the lack of animal welfare laws and prevalence of garment factories, China currently ranks as the leading exporter of fur and supplies half of all of the fur products that enter the United States for sale. Animals documented being raised and killed in China include dogs, cats, foxes, mink, and, of particular note, raccoon dogs, a species of canine whose fur resembles raccoon.
The Fur Products Labeling Act prohibits the advertising or sale of any fur product that is falsely or misleadingly labeled, and authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to seek criminal penalties, impose fines of up to $5,000 per violation and to seize mislabeled products.
There are calls for Congress to amend the Dog and Cat Protection Act – which bans the sale of dog or cat fur in the United States – to include raccoon dog, since the animals are often inhumanely killed and the species is similar to domesticated dogs. Raccoon dogs are indigenous to Asia, including eastern Siberia and Japan, and are sometimes called Asiatic raccoons.
