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British consumers are being misled into buying real fur from fox, rabbit, chinchilla and mink, falsely advertised as fake fur, an investigation by Humane Society International UK and Sky News has revealed.
The investigation found trusted online retailers such as Boohoo, Amazon and Not On The High Street all selling items such as bobble hats, keychains, scarves, shoes and coats advertised as faux fur when laboratory tests revealed them to be real animal fur.
Many of these items have deceptively low price points; life is cheap on fur farms, with animals enduring appalling deprivation. This means that real fur trim often costs the same or even less than faux fur.
Animal lover Jayne Webster got in touch with HSI to report concerns about the key chain she bought from TK Maxx after staff assured her it was faux fur.
HSI sent the keychain off for testing and found it was made of rabbit fur. Jayne said, ‘As a company who proudly boasts that they have not sold fur or angora products since 2003, I would assume that TK Maxx takes a strong ethical stance on this issue. So when I found out that the fur pom-pom I bought was actually made of rabbit fur I was extremely disappointed and concerned. I am aware of the horrific suffering that animals on fur farms go through and would never want to buy real fur, I don’t know how companies can get away with this.’
‘The combination of trusted brands, cheap prices, and items described as ‘faux’ or ‘100% acrylic’, means many people will be justifiably horrified to discover they’ve inadvertently bought animal fur. Consumers rightly expect brands to sell what they say they’re selling, so urgent action is needed to stop this insidious creep of fur through the back door.’
CLAIRE BASS
Executive director of Humane Society International UK
Fake faux fur items discovered in the investigation include:
Around the world in countries such as the US, France, Poland and China, animals on fur farms are subjected to terrible conditions. Beautiful wild animals are kept their entire lives in small, barren cages, physically and mentally deprived, before being killed and skinned for their fur.
Wild animals such as coyotes fair no better, caught in agonising traps for hours or even days before being shot.
The vast majority of the British public are against wearing fur. A 2016 YouGov poll shows nine out of 10 Brits believe it’s unacceptable to buy and sell real fur, averaged across nine species.
Although fur farming was outlawed in the UK on moral grounds in 2000, and EU regulations ban fur from domestic cats, dogs or commercial seal hunts, the UK still imports and sells fur from a range of other species such as fox, rabbit, mink, coyote, raccoon dog and chinchilla.
‘The amount of fake faux fur online is truly shocking, with even trusted retailers misselling real animal fur as synthetic. It is appalling that British shoppers, who are actively choosing not to buy real fur because of the terrible animal suffering, are being misled into buying the very same fur products they’re trying to avoid.’
CLAIRE BASS
Executive director of Humane Society International UK
HSI is campaigning for the British government to make the United Kingdom a fur-free zone by extending the cat, dog and seal fur bans to include all fur-bearing species.
As a member of the EU single market, under rules relating to free movement of goods the UK is not currently at liberty to ban the import of animal fur, which is farmed in several European countries.
But Brexit could give the government the freedom to reflect the public’s distaste for all fur and close our borders fully to this cruel and outdated trade.
‘The government banned fur farming as unethical in the UK more than 10 years ago, but perversely we have since been importing that same cruelty from fur farms overseas. The vast majority of British people believe that animal fur has no place in our high streets and wardrobes, and would support a UK ban. Mandatory, clear labelling of all fur is urgently needed to stop consumers being misled, but ultimately to properly protect both animals and consumers, the government must use the opportunity presented by Brexit to ban all UK fur imports.’
CLAIRE BASS
Executive director of Humane Society International UK
There is no legal requirement to use the specific word ‘fur’ on items containing real fur. EU regulations do require items defined as ‘textile products’ to carry the confusing wording ‘contains non-textile parts of animal origin’, but as well as not clearly telling consumers it means ‘real animal fur’, in practice this wording requirement is rarely adhered to at all.
Products sold online are exempt even from the above confusing wording requirement, and footwear or non-garment accessories such as handbags and keychains are also excluded.
Under consumer protection legislation, it’s technically illegal to mislead. However, the regulation – with respect to the sale of animal fur – is very poorly enforced; ‘an honest mistake’ is considered a legitimate defence, meaning retailers are rarely prosecuted.
HSI believes that all products containing real animal fur (including clothing, footwear, accessories etc.) should be clearly labelled in plain English. Such labelling is already in place in the US and Switzerland, and should include the animal species (both common and scientific name); country of origin (where the animal was bred/trapped and killed) and how the animal was reared and killed (trap caught or reared in a wire cage, for example).
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