Wal-Mart pulls slippers after animal-rights group complains

Bradley Bouzane, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, January 05, 2009

The Animal Defence League of Canada is celebrating a "major victory" after Wal-Mart Canada agreed to pull a type of Chinese-made slippers that contained real rabbit fur from its shelves.

The retail giant pulled the Tender Tootsies slippers, which advertised "all man-made materials," on Monday morning after a member of Vancouver's Animal Defence League discovered the products were incorrectly labelled and contained real fur. Wal-Mart has a no-fur policy at all of its stores.

"They have been pulled from the shelves, and what we were told is that if there's any still on the shelves, their UPC code won't go through at the till while they're in the process of taking them out of their stores," said Marley Daviduk, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver branch of the national organization.

"Wal-Mart was extremely compliant and right away said that they do not sell fur, so right away I knew it was another case of Chinese suppliers being dishonest with companies and giving them real fur when they think it's fake."

Daviduk found the slippers while shopping last week and the Ottawa and Vancouver branches of the Animal Defence League immediately contacted both Wal-Mart Canada and the product's London, Ont.-based importer.

"I knew right away it was real rabbit fur, but it said on the tag that there were no man-made materials," she said.

"In Canada, there are no laws regarding labelling, so items don't have to say which animal it is, let alone say that it's real. But you can't mislabel them, legally."

Calls to Wal-Mart Canada and Tender Tootsies Ltd. were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Read more on the atrocities of the fur industry http://www.rabbitadvocacy.com/animal_exploitation.htm