The figurines that looked so cute on the shelf, were the product of real dogs and cats, raised, and killed for their fur. Pictures taken by the Humane Society of the United States, during an undercover investigation in China last year, show animals kept in crude wooden cages, near starvation. The Humane Society believes this factory, and others like it, export fur products to the U.S., often mislabled as rabbit or fox. Judy Burnamen was suspicious enough to return to the mall and purchase one of the figurines.
Investigators say similar figurines are turning up in gift shops all over the Bay Area.
From Carlton Cards, to Hallmark, to small mom and pop stores. And often the owners don't realize what they're really made from. That's because even professional DNA labs sometimes need several days to distinguish dog and cat fur from rabbit, or other types of fur which makes it easy for importers to disguise the source. And investigators say regulation in China, is almost non-existent, or worse. Still, when Judy learned what she had, se began sending letters to Carlton Cards.