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Fur Company Canada Goose Under Siege

November 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment


The News

During the four days after Canada Goose opened its first retail store in the United States, animal rights activists staged massive protests at the entrance, dissuading shoppers from entering and shaming those who purchased coats after seeing images of geese and coyotes being terrorized and killed for their feathers and fur.

In this six minute video, Canadian journalist Zach Ruiter captured some of the dramatic encounters between the protesters and Canada Goose customers on the day of the store’s grand opening in New York City.

TheirTurn, which also reported from the grand opening, interviewed actor and comedian Dave Hill, who stopped by with his dog Lucy to lend his support. In addition to criticizing the Canada Goose for engaging in “mass slaughter” while masquerading as a “mom and pop” business, Hill contemplated asking the company, which uses wild dog (coyote) fur, if it would make a coat using Lucy’s fur.

In October, activists with PETA and Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) staged an in-store disruption on the opening day of its first retail store. According to PETA, “25 chanting, poster-wielding PETA supporters and DxE activists descended on the grand opening of Canada Goose’s first-ever brick-and-mortar store in Toronto. Less than a minute after protesters entered the building—where they were immediately locked in by security personnel—the company’s CEO, Dani Reiss, fled to the back of the store.”

Canada Goose is being targeted by animal rights activists because the company sells winter coats stuffed with feathers plucked out of the bodies of geese and lined with the fur of coyotes who are captured in steel leg hold traps. Advocates say that coyotes attempt to chew off their trapped limbs to escape and oftentimes starve to death while waiting for the trapper to shoot them.

Protest on the opening day of the Canada Goose store in NYC

Protest on the opening day of the Canada Goose store in NYC

The red and blue Canada Goose badge on the coats has become a status symbol in urban areas. Activists are working to ensure that customers, some of whom don’t realize they are wearing real fur, know that they’re wearing a “badge of terror.”

Activists help Canada Goose customers connect the dots between their dogs who they love and the dogs who they're wearing.

Activists help Canada Goose customers connect the dots between their dogs who they love and the dogs who they’re wearing.

Your Turn

Please ask Canada Goose to stop exploiting geese and coyotes for profit.

Animal rights activists stage protests during the four days after the store opened its first retail location in the United States

Animal rights activists stage protests during the four days after the store opened its first retail location in the United States



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TheirTurn.net Comments

  1. Gustavo Woltmann says:

    This is not right! Animals have a right and they deserve to live. You think your company becomes successful because you use some parts of animals to sell? Wake up guys that are not right.

  2. Stefanie says:

    I’m a copywriter in advertising and their fur policy is absolute hogwash. I know bullshit when i see it. Is it possible that many people just have no idea about how/what their hoods are lined with? Of course, some don’t care. But education is key here, making sure people get it. I happened to be in Soho recently and saw the protest at the Canada Goose store. I was thrilled to see activism around fur again. My only issue is that screaming at people and calling them names only has a reverse effect. There has to be a way of at least appealing to them on some level without putting them on the defense right away? Keep up the protests!

    1. leo nardo says:

      …greetings stephanie…thank you for your feedback…having not met you i have no knowledge if you have ever personally protested against the fur industry…it is truly a specific type of battle…i believe that we are making genuine strides towards utilizing a less aggressive approach…as a whole…that said…it is of my personal opinion that fur is unique in its status as an item of luxury…so as opposed to ongoing issues that address functionality…let’s say something like leather…which as gross as it is…is actually quite durable…or eating animals…which again…despite robbing a being from its life does in fact offer a plethora of nutrients…other exploitative industries go out of their way to mask their final “product” with new terminology: “leather” and not “cow skin”, “beef, steak, pork, bacon, etc” as opposed to “severed body parts” so as to further distance the consumer’s mindset from the origin of their desired product…the fur industry…true to its arrogant nature…takes no such measures…as more often than not…the clientele of this industry is quite familiar with stomping over those deemed of less importance in first attaining the necessary wealth to purchase said furs…but before i go off of the deep end…i will say this…people know damned well what they are paying for when they purchase items with fur…this is not hidden in the cost…and certainly not concealed in their defense of their decisions…”it’s my choice”…”me, me, me”…as to our approach…which you have described as not being “appealing”…well…as a native new yorker i will be quite frank in saying that of myself and most people that i grew up with…the soft approach will almost never work…for anything…we like conflict and we love to fight…we talk with our hands and often whoever is the loudest or at least willing to contend for such a title is he who wins the conversation…i am not attempting to justify it…but those are facts…and a lot of conversations that conclude in a “library volume” were only possible to begin with when one of our own was willing to take it “there”…okay…catching the shifty eyes from my supervisor…so this rant must come to an end…i hope that this has explained things from our end at least on some level…have an excellent day…

      1. John says:

        All products, including natural AND synthetic insulators, have their advantages and disadvantages. While synthetic insulators continue to perform well when wet, they are less durable than down, and do not provide the same degree of warmth per unit weight. Real fur is used to line the hood because it remains soft and does not freeze up unlike synthetic fur.

        If you people REALLY want to end the use of animal products in the garment industry, you aren’t going to do it by yelling obnoxious profanities and crying about animal mistreatment…ditch your gender studies and art degrees, and become scientists and engineers so that you can invent products that are superior in every way to the natural products you detest.

      2. Stefanie says:

        Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate your insights!

  3. Thank you SO MUCH for protesting this store

  4. hasini says:

    dont

  5. Barrack says:

    You should be fighting the butchering of babies-Abortion like you fight for animals. Wake up.

    Defund Planned Parenthood now.

  6. Sebastian says:

    You bunch of monsters are barbaric!
    Truly and immensely disgusting. You rip the skin right off a live animal! You can NEVER imagine how much excruciating pain that would feel!

  7. Barrie Hazzard says:

    Please stop your barbarism and cruelty to animals.How can you look your children in the eye and tell them you love them,when you are responsible for torturing and killing animals?If they knew what your company did,would they still feel the same about you?

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