7

This one is doing the rounds on Facebook:

enter image description here

PLEASE don't buy these. You know the little fake sleeping cat or dog that looks real? It IS real.........Real dog and cat hair. And the animals the fur comes from are brutally killed JUST For this purpose. IF you see these in the stores this Holiday season you might want to let the store manager or owner know what really is going on. They may not be aware. And just "might" be an animal lover and want to send them back to China. THIS needs to stop. The "faux" fur collars you see on jackets, vest etc. MOST of them 90% are dog and cat fur. They can sell it cheap so it is used on or in coats, hats, and vests, purses.

The original 'poster' tones down her claim a little in a comment:

So many sources out there catching them "trying" to claim its faux fur. It's not. Its one or more of the following. Rabbit, racoon dog, dog, cat, etc. More and more they are catching it. It's banned but not ALL sources are caught. Many and I mean MANY slip past. It's sickening.

and refers to this Nov 5, 2015 PR NewsWire article, which quotes the AnimalEquality campaign voicelessfriends.org, but both do not say anything about these toys.

As far as I have investigated the many links in the Facebook comments only refer to generic 'toys', or with unsupported claims of them 'slipping through the cracks' of inspections.

There is no doubt that cats and dogs are being killed for food or fur (e.g. currently the South Korean government is trying to eradicate dog eating, because of the upcoming Olympic games), but I query the specific claim of toys like these.
Is there proof of recent* sales of toys made from dog/cat fur in the US or Europe?

Note: The picture shows Perfect Petzzz products, but the picture may have just been was probably just added to a claim that applies to other brands (Perfect Petzzz products are all synthetic).

* Say, from 2015 on - the 16 november 2017 FB post refers to this holiday season

Community
  • 1
  • 1
    Are we able to verify this at all? Sounds like something for a criminal investigation. – gerrit Dec 04 '17 at 10:11
  • 4
    One I doubt the real thing can be cheaper than syntetic, second many people are alergic to the real thing, making one anti-alergic product makes lots of sense. Third I'm pretty sure many countries have legislation referring to animal products origins requiring licenses, tests, all stuff companies try to avoid. Finally buy one and take it to a vet, they will be able to verify it. IMHO most facebook news are fake news and raise my concerns just how easy is to post BS – jean Dec 04 '17 at 12:01
  • 1
    Does "doing the rounds on Facebook" qualify as notable? – Ben Barden Dec 05 '17 at 16:48
  • A 2012 report says that " Unique Product Enterprises" of New York sold dog fur containing items http://m.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2012/07/investigation_dog_fur_071812.html I don't see anything for the US more recent than that. – DavePhD Dec 06 '17 at 16:33
  • There is a 2013 article about Switzerland: https://www.theverge.com/2013/6/14/4429720/switzerland-cracks-down-on-its-underground-cat-fur-market – DavePhD Dec 06 '17 at 16:38
  • @BenBarden the tag wiki for [tag:facebook] explicitly tells us not to use it for claims spread via Facebook. That suggests to me that they are allowed, but simply shouldn’t be tagged with it. They are at least very common. – Tim Jan 16 '19 at 15:05

0 Answers0