Activists force garden centre to withdraw fur toys

James Barnes removed the goat and rabbit fur decorations from sale after an outcry by campaigners.

But despite the move, he has started to receive threatening letters at Dobbies Garden World in Lasswade.

It is understood some of the letters threaten to disrupt the store and allude to causing damage to the garden centre’s property.

Mr Barnes said today the controversial furry toys had been sourced from a reputable company, but were withdrawn when they caused offence.

He said: "I would say the letters have been unnecessarily aggressive, but I don’t want to say any more than that about them. It is a bit frustrating considering we have withdrawn the products and it would appear these people have not bothered to find out or check their facts.

"They have been addressed to me, but inevitably it can be a bit upsetting for the staff, because they sort out the mail.

"We don’t carry other fur products and we carried out all the background checks on the company we sourced these products from and were satisfied they weren’t farmed, but that wasn’t good enough and in the end we decided to remove them.

"We are actually a very animal-friendly store - we have robins in the store, ducks in the play area. Anybody who has been here knows it is more of a menagerie than many other similar stores."

The 5.99 decorations carried a label stating: "This product is made from domesticated rabbit/goat fur. Animals were farm-raised for their food value and the fur is a by-product."

But anti-fur campaigners say the story behind the festive toys is one of appalling cruelty and suffering.

They claim the fluffy ornaments of polar bears and reindeer were made from the skins of intensively-farmed rabbits and goats bred in horrifying conditions in China. Most imported rabbit pelts come from animals crammed into cages in fur farms in the Far East.

Advocates for Animals, the campaign group which originally raised concerns about Dobbies’ products, today said it was delighted that the decorations had been taken off the shelves before the Christmas rush, but did not condone threats towards the firm.

Lynda Korrimbocus, campaigns manager, said: "As a result of public pressure and media coverage, the ornaments have now been withdrawn. This is great news.

"However, Dobbies has yet to commit to a fur-free policy for future stock.

"We hope that, in listening to customers, Dobbies will consider implementing a no-fur policy for all sales, and we shall continue in our attempts to persuade it and other similar stores to do just that."

She said the campaign group did not advocate sending threatening letters to the firm. "We always ask members and supporters to complain, but to do so in a polite manner. Some people are very angry about the sale of fur and unfortunately we can’t control what people write, but we as an organisation do not agree with threatening letters."

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police said no complaints had been made about the letters as yet. She added: "If an official complaint is made to the police we would certainly look into it. If there are threats being made, it would be treated very seriously."

Anti-cruelty groups estimate that 40 million animals bred intensively for the world fur industry suffer cruelty before being killed, normally by gassing, electrocution or having their necks broken.

While fur-farming is illegal in the UK, buying and selling fur and fur products is not.