A pair of unlabelled fur gloves being sold for $20 at a stall in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market have been found to contain domestic cat fur, activists say.
The discovery was made during a joint investigation by the Collective Fashion Justice group and the Animal Justice party, who sent the gloves for testing at a forensic lab in the United States.
Queen Victoria Market released a statement saying it was unaware of items containing cat fur being sold at the market.
“We do not condone the sale of any goods of this nature and work with traders and relevant authorities to resolve specific situations when they are brought to our attention,” officials said in the statement.
Animal Justice party MP Andy Meddick has called on the state government to support a ban on fur.
Such a ban would protect Australian consumers from the use of inherently cruel but legal practices, he said.
“It is horrifying that someone could walk into a market and purchase something they are told is faux fur, only to find out later that it contains domestic cat,” Meddick said.
“Victorians are being misled in their efforts to make ethical choices and I will do everything I can to fix that.”
Collective Fashion Justice director Emma Hakansson said the idea of unknowingly wearing cat fur would horrify most Australians.
Every investigation conducted by her group has led to the discovery of mislabelled fur, she said.
“We have no doubt this issue is widespread across the state,” Hakansson said.