The hamster coat

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The Evening Standard
In homes and classrooms around the country they entertain children by running around in their exercise wheels and storing food in their cheeks.

But at one upmarket store, hamsters are serving a different purpose. They form the lining for ladies' coats.

A hundred of the furry rodents die for every one of the garments being sold for £1,750 each at the House of Bruar, one of the most renowned shops in Scotland.

Animal rights groups yesterday called on shoppers to boycott the store. They fear that some of the hamsters might still be alive when they are skinned after being gassed.

The coats are made of dark-green Loden fabric with the hamsters forming the detachable lining. They are imported from Austria.

Assistants at the store near Blair Atholl, Perthshire, where a range of fur items are on sale, proudly describe to customers how the jackets are made.

One said: 'They are beautiful coats made from hamsters from Russia. The cost reflects the superior quality.

'The lining comes out and you can wear it as a separate jacket. But it is more subtle to have a hint of the fur.

'Fur jackets can still raise a few eyebrows and lots of shops refused to sell these ones - they are very unusual.'

Yvonne Taylor, from the organisation Advocates for Animals, said: 'These coats are completely sick. It is virtually unheard of for this type of fur to be sold in the UK. Smaller animals like hamsters have to be killed in a group.

'Because they are not individually killed there is a risk that some of them may not be fully unconscious while they are being skinned.

'This has been the case with other small animals in fur farms I have visited.'

'Their suffering must be horrendous.'

Mammal expert Andrew Kitchener, of the Royal Museum of Scotland, said hamsters are a protected species in the European Union.

'I am surprised to see they have been used to make coats. The markings on the fur used in the coats is consistent with fur from common hamsters.'

And Anne Dray, from the British Hamster Society, said: 'We are appalled to hear hamsters are being used to make the lining for fur coats.

'We would condemn the use of any clothes being made from fur, especially hamsters because it would take so many of them to make a coat.'

The popularity of fur has grown in recent years, with many celebrities now happy to be seen wearing it, and the House of Bruar said the coats had proved a hit with customers.

Assistant buyer Lorna McLeod said: 'The animals are bred abroad specifically to be used for clothing of this type.

'Some people have been outraged and have written to the store to complain but it's really up to us what we sell. We stock lots of fur coats including mink, fox and raccoon.'

Following the animal lovers' outrage over the coats, however, the shop last night hinted it might withdraw them from sale.

A spokesman said: 'As a company, we pride ourselves on our relationship with our customers and are therefore concerned that we may have offended some people.

'We are constantly reviewing our product range in the light of customer feedback in our pursuit of excellence in customer service.'