An animal rights activist wearing little more than bodypaint and a faux-fur tail caught the attention of Londoners in the downtown over the lunch hour Tuesday.
The woman, painted to look like a coyote struggling to get out of a steel trap, was one of half a dozen people at the corner of Richmond St. and Dundas St. who were protesting the use of fur and down in Canada Goose jackets.
"There is cruelty in every stitch of a Canada Goose jacket," said Emily Lavender, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaigner. "Coyotes can suffer for days in steel leg-hold traps. Some are mothers desperate to return to their young and will attempt to chew off their own limbs in order to escape. PETA found at Canada Goose's own feature down provider that geese are rounded up by their necks and in a panicked attempt at escape they trampled each other."
Lavender claims Canada Goose is misleading customers by insisting their products are humane. She is urging the clothing company to scrap down and coyote fur trim on its jackets and instead switch to synthetic products.
"There are so many great options out there. Superior insulating fabrics like Thermotech, PrimaLoft and Thermoball," said Lavender. "There is just no reason to wear animals in the 21st century when we have such great options."
In response to PETA's allegations, Canada Goose has stated the group, along with other animal activists, are "grossly misinformed" about the company's animal welfare practices.
“This is a case of activists misrepresenting the truth for their own purposes. They ignore the strict government regulation and standards that are in place, as well as our commitment to animal welfare and the responsible use and ethical sourcing of all animal materials in our products as evidenced by our comprehensive traceability program and Fur and Down Transparency Standards," Canada Goose said in a statement emailed to Blackburn News. "We only purchase fur from licensed North American trappers, who are regulated by state, provincial and federal governments and our down comes as a by-product of the food industry. We do not condone any willful mistreatment, neglect, or acts that maliciously cause undue pain, injury or suffering towards animals, and we are committed to providing full transparency about how we make our products.”
PETA is planning to hold similar protest in Windsor and Waterloo later this week.