Fido turns into faux fur

When man's best friend's fur starts being labeled as faux in upscale clothing stores, we know we have a problem.

Recently, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) conducted an investigation of trim on clothing labeled as "faux fur." Mass spectrometry tests revealed that a large majority of the fur was mislabeled and in actuality came from animals, including dogs and another member of the canine family called raccoon dogs.

Twenty-four of the 25 garments tested came back mislabeled or flat-out falsely advertised, according to the Associated Press.

The HSUS found that reputable stores such as Nordstrom, Tommy Hilfiger and Bluefly.com all sold garments containing dog fur labeled as fake.

Additionally, "misidentified or unlabeled raccoon dog fur [was] sold on jackets by retailers and brands including DKNY, Lord and Taylor, Ross, D.E.M.O, Rocawear, Macy's, Baby Phat, J.C. Penney and Burlington Coat Factory," according to hsus.org.

Upon notification, almost all the clothing stores and companies immediately pulled the offending items. Nordstrom went a step further, calling any consumer who had purchased a piece of clothing now shown to contain dog fur in case anyone wanted to make a return.

Rappers Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z both pulled the faux-exposed-as-real fur from their lines.

The problem lies in the fact that the clothing items are imported from China, a country that does not share U.S. views on domesticated animals like cats and dogs.

Consumers can learn two important things from the unfortunate results of this investigation. First comes the "should be obvious but could use a reminder" lesson [HTML_REMOVED] don't trust everything you read on an advertisement. In other words, be a smart consumer.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is that this incident points its finger directly at the cruel and ugly fur industry, a business that no one should support.

While the despicable animal testing and vivisection that goes on at research facilities like the UW's now-shunned animal labs is at least conducted to save lives, the cruelty of the fur industry serves no worthwhile purpose except to fashionably clothe consumers.

The reality of this industry is that animals raised for fur have short, miserable lives that end in unimaginable amounts of pain. Many of the animals, including raccoon dogs, are beaten to the threshold of death and then skinned alive, according to the HSUS.

Animals like lynxes, foxes, wolves and bobcats die in traps that also inadvertently trap and kill other creatures. Canada's now infamous seal hunt is an event where seals are clubbed to death all to harvest pelts. Familiar cuddly creatures like cats and dogs are also killed solely for fur.

The HSUS estimates that half of the 50 million animals skinned for fur each year are killed exclusively for this purpose, not as a byproduct of other animal industries.

The good news is that consumers are wising up to this joke of an industry. Two members of the House of Representatives, Jim Moran, D-Virginia, and Mike Ferguson, R-New Jersey, have drafted the Dog and Cat Fur Prohibition Enforcement Act. The bill would, among other things, outlaw the use of raccoon dog fur and require all fur and faux fur to be properly marked.

"Americans don't want Lassie turned into a fur coat. Unfortunately, that's happening today because consumers lack the right information to make an informed purchase," Moran said in a press release.

This bill is a first step in the right direction, but more still needs to be done. Compassionate students can do two things to help shut down the fur industry: Don't buy fur or faux fur products, and urge your local representative to support the Moran-Ferguson bill.

Learn more about the fur industry and what you can do to help at www.hsus.org and moran.house.gov.

Reach columnist Amy Korst at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu