'Fake' fur sold on UK high street found to contain cat fur

  • Published
These shoes have cat fur pom pomsImage source, Humane Society International

Cat fur has been found for sale on the UK high street by young fashion brand Missguided.

Featured on a pair of pink high heeled shoes, the fur had been advertised as fake.

Animal rights campaigners Humane Society International (HSI) and Sky News discovered the fur, after a tip-off from a concerned customer.

Missguided says it has a strict no fur policy and removed them from sale after being informed of the findings.

They are now planning on launching an internal investigation with suppliers.

Image source, Humane Society International

The European Union bans the sale of cat and dog fur.

The shoes, which have been on sold online and in its Westfield Stratford store, list only man-made materials on the label.

The campaign group also found real fur being sold as fake at House of Fraser, Lily Lulu and Amazon.

In-store staff were found to be wrongly advising customers that items are fake when they were confirmed in laboratory tests to be real animal fur.

A range of species such as rabbit, fox, mink, and raccoon dog, were discovered.

Image source, Humane Society International
Image caption,

Racoon dog fur was discovered on bobble hats

The charity are warning that people are often unknowingly buying real fur, particularly on items such as bobble hats, key rings and hooded jackets.

Farming for fur ended in the UK in 2003 but is more common in other parts of the world including China, France and Poland.

Activists say the conditions on these farms are "miserable" and are campaigning to put an end to all fur trading.

Image source, Humane Society International

House of Fraser say they have removed the gloves from sale that were discovered to contain rabbit fur.

A spokesperson for the department store said: "We will offer a full refund on any purchases of this item previously made.

"We will also be launching a full brand partners and supplier engagement to ensure that they are reminded of our no fur policy."

Image source, Humane Society International

Newsbeat has contacted Amazon and Lily Lulu.

They have yet to respond to a request for a comment.

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