fur

Last summer, in Canada more than 350,000 newborn seals were killed for fur extraction and unfortunately the next summer much more will die for fashion. In the last four years, there were more than 1 million seals killed in Canada.

An animal rights group said on Thursday that some retailers were selling coats made with real animal fur that were advertised as having fake fur.

The Humane Society of the United States said a follow-up to its investigation last year found that retailers including Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue were selling jackets that had been mislabeled as "faux fur" but were trimmed with actual animal fur.

The Humane Society said in a statement that it determined the fur was real through laboratory tests and cutting open the lining of the fur trim on products it had purchased.

ONE OF the country’s most exclusive department stores is shelving its tradition of selling animal fur products.

Brown Thomas will initiate a "no fur" policy from February, with management insisting it was taking animal welfare into account.

The move has been welcomed by animal rights activists who have recently campaigned outside the store’s Grafton Street branch.

Brown Thomas stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway will only sell synthetic fur, or leather, suede, sheepskin, and shearling.

Julie O'Connor, a co-founder of the Caring Activists Against Fur group and a Tenafly resident, said animals are being trapped in painful devices and confined in cages before being killed and skinned to make coats.

"In the wild, minks and foxes are able to roam for miles," O'Connor said. "If they are raised on a fur farm, they are kept in a cage. You see the animals circle constantly in their cage because they are being driven insane from not being able to move."

Want to brave the masses and mayhem of Black Friday but avoid the cruelty of animal fur?

The fur experts at The HSUS have put together some tips for painless post-Thanksgiving shopping—for you and fur-bearing animals.

Vote for your favorite fur-free campaign poster in the Annual Design Against Fur student competition!

Women's clothing retailer bebe stores inc. said Thursday it will discontinue buying products with animal fur starting in January. Chief Executive Gregory Scott: "we  now look forward to completely eliminating animal fur from our orders beginning in January 2008."

Bebe currently operates 285 stores in the United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Please join The Humane Society of the United States in protesting against Canada's commercial seal hunt at the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC on Thursday, November 15th from noon to 1 p.m.

Click here to let us know you're coming to the rally :

https://community.hsus.org/humane/events/Sealrally_washingtondc_november15/details.tcl?member_key=wxb3egwrpkw8mm8&

At least three dogs were killed by body-crushing traps last year in New York. With your help, though, we can make our woods a little less dangerous.

Barb Kaas heard a commotion in the woods and sensed her Siberian husky, Sage, was in trouble. She was horseback riding Sunday on a trail near her home in Fredenberg Township north of Fish Lake.

Kaas feared the husky may have encountered a wolf, so she rode home to get her husband before investigating. By the time they returned, Sage was dead, caught in a trapper’s size 220 Conibear trap.

Test your eye for style by voting now in the Humane Society of the United States' third annual Cool vs. Cruel fashion design contest. Then see how the People's Choice winner you help select compares to the judges' (sartorial guru Tim Gunn among them) choice.

Five critics of Canada's annual and controversial seal hunt will go to court Thursday to face charges of violating the rules mandated for those who observe the hunt.The five representatives of Humane Society International and Humane Society of the United States are charged with violating Canada's marine mammal regulations by coming within 10 meters (11 yards) of seal hunters during the 2006 hunt off the country's east coast.Clayton Ruby, the lawyer for the five, said Wednesday he will present video

The outspoken Viv is already long established on the progressive end of the profession: her clothes are designed to fit real women’s bodies, not emaciated sticks. And to her, less fabric doesn’t equal sexy: "So many women don't seem to even understand what sexy means. Sexy is about looking powerful and important." She has also campaigned alongside recently departed green giant Anita Roddick against weapons of mass destruction, and one year ago, she renounced the use of fur in her designs.

Canada has taken first steps in preparation of a law suit at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the Netherlands and Belgium over their ban on the import of seal fur. "There is no basis in science or international law to prohibit the sale of seal products," a spokesman for the Canadian Ministry of International Trade told reporters.

In what appears to be an attempt to prevent a prohibition on seal fur by the European Union as a whole, Canada has requested a consultation with the EU at the WTO in Geneva.

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is proposing unconstitutional changes to the Marine Mammal Regulations -- amendments that would effectively block all independent parties from observing and documenting the commercial seal hunt.

The DFO wants to give the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans the power to refuse any person an observation permit for the seal hunt -- for any reason -- for five years. Such a move would be in direct violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of the press.