FOUR PAWS Calls for Victoria to Ban Fur Sales After Shocking Findings
Investigations show real animal fur mislabelled as faux fur in Victoria. FOUR PAWS urges the Victorian Government to act and protect both animals and consumers.
Melbourne, 17 September 2025 – In a powerful open letter, FOUR PAWS Australia and other animal protection groups call on the Victorian Government to urgently ban the retail sale of animal fur, following repeated investigations exposing cat, fox, and raccoon dog fur mislabelled as faux.
Addressed to the Hon. Nick Staikos MP, Minister for Consumer Affairs, the letter calls on the Allan Labor Government to introduce legislation to end fur sales across the state. The appeal is backed by fellow core members of the Australian Alliance for Animals and supported globally by the Fur Free Alliance, for which FOUR PAWS is the official representative in Australia.
Open Letter to Ban Fur Trade in Victoria
FOUR PAWS, Australian Alliance for Animals, Fur Free Alliance and other animal groups calling for the Allan Labor government to ban fur sales in Victoria
The open letter highlights a disturbing pattern: repeated investigations over more than a decade have exposed fur products in Victoria being mislabelled or sold with no labelling at all.
This included a FOUR PAWS investigation in 2019-21 where widespread mislabelling of products like scarves, jackets, handbags, and gloves at market stalls in New South Wales and Victoria were found. For example, a jacket from a Melbourne market was found to contain raccoon or raccoon dog fur despite labels claiming it's “100% polyester.” beanies from Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market were found to contain fox and raccoon dog fur despite labels claiming they were acrylic.
More recently, there was a shocking discovery of a children’s vest sold in Victoria containing real domestic cat fur, falsely labelled as “100% Australian sheepskin or wool.”
The cruelty of fur farming and trapping is well-documented. Animals such as mink, foxes, raccoon dogs, and cats are confined to tiny cages, denied natural behaviour, and killed by gassing or electrocution. Wild animals caught in traps suffer agonising injuries, often dying slowly and in pain. Despite Australia banning the import of cat and dog fur 20 years ago, poor enforcement continues to allow these products to slip into the retail market.
Meanwhile, the global fur trade is in rapid decline. In the past decade, production of mink, fox, and raccoon dog pelts has dropped by more than 85 per cent, as major fashion houses, retailers, and fashion weeks have rejected fur as cruel and outdated.
By banning fur sales, Victoria has the chance to lead the nation in consumer protection, ethical retail reform, and animal welfare. Such action would place the state alongside international leaders like California, which has already banned fur sales, and Switzerland, which prohibits fur imports.
FOUR PAWS Australia, alongside coalition partners, urges the Victorian Government to act with compassion and urgency.
Alert: Buyer Beware
Fur sellers are unscrupulous and deceiving consumers to unknowingly buy real fur. Learn how to check between faux and real fur with these four tests:
- The Underwool Test: Pull the upper hair of the fur slightly apart and see if you can detect the underwool. It's made of fine, dense and fluffy hairs that keep animals warm in freezing temperatures.
- The Leather Test: Real fur is processed together with leather. Pull the hairs carefully apart. You should be able to tell whether the material underneath is woven fabric or leather.
- The Wind Test: Real fur moves in the slightest breeze. Blow very gently over the fur and if the hairs move, it probably came from a furry creature.
- The Scent Test: Not to be tried in the store of course, but real hair will react very differently to a flame than imitation hair. If they crumble and you can smell burnt hair or skin, it's real. Imitation fur gives off an artificial scent when burnt. These fibres melt into small hard lumps rather than ash.
If you want to be sure that you’re not buying real fur by mistake, shop fur-free from over 340 fashion brands who have joined our Fur Free Retailer initiative.
Did you know FOUR PAWS is a core member of the Australian Alliance for Animals and the official representative of the Fur Free Retailer program in Australia?
Elise Burgess
Head of CommunicationsM: 0423 873 382
FOUR PAWS Australia
GPO Box 2845
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Main Phone: 1800 454 228
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About FOUR PAWS
FOUR PAWS is the global animal welfare organisation for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them.
Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler and friends, the organisation advocates for a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding. The sustainable campaigns and projects of FOUR PAWS focus on companion animals including stray dogs and cats, animals in fashion, farm animals, and wild animals – such as bears, big cats, and orangutans – kept in inappropriate conditions as well as in disaster and conflict zones.
With offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA, and Vietnam as well as sanctuaries for rescued animals in eleven countries, FOUR PAWS provides rapid help and long-term solutions. www.four-paws.org.au