Canada Goose to stop buying fur from freshly killed coyotes

Canada Goose said it plans to stop using fur from freshly killed coyotes to make its pricey parkas — but the company denied it’s caving to pressure from animal-rights groups. The 63-year-old luxury coat maker — which has been under fire from animal rights activists for years over its use of coyote fur and goose …

Canada Goose said it plans to stop using fur from freshly killed coyotes to make its pricey parkas — but the company denied it’s caving to pressure from animal-rights groups.

The 63-year-old luxury coat maker — which has been under fire from animal rights activists for years over its use of coyote fur and goose down — said Wednesday that it’s ditching its policy of buying new coyote fur from trappers as well as down that’s plucked from live geese.

Beginning in 2022, the Toronto-based company will use “reclaimed” fur for the trim on its $1,000 parkas. In addition to buying scraps of fur on the used market, Canada Goose said it will introduce a program in the coming months to buy back the fur ruffs from customers’ coats.

Canada Goose also said that beginning next year it will source down only from farms that don’t pluck feathers from live birds or force feed ducks.

The company insisted, however, that the moves have nothing to do with pressure from groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which have published videos of injured coyotes dying in traps and live geese with bare, bloodied breasts.

Instead, the moves are about sustainability, chief executive Dani Reiss told the New York Times on Wednesday after the company’s announcement.

“By reusing fur that is reclaimed, we’re just taking a resource that’s already sustainable and making it even more sustainable,” Reiss said. “The fact that we’ve been targeted did not factor into this decision at all.”

Reiss added that “We’re still using fur” despite other big fashion labels that are now shunning it, including Ralph Lauren, Chanel, H&M, Gucci and Gap. He noted that coyote fur is superior to synthetic materials in extreme weather because it blocks wind better, rejects moisture and doesn’t freeze.

PETA has been waging war against Canada Goose since 2006 and ramped up its efforts more recently when the company filed for its initial public offering in March 2017, grabbing publicity for its cause by buying shares and using protesters outside the NYSE who were dressed as bloodied coyotes and carrying gruesome signs.

As reported by The Post, Canada Goose last summer quietly stepped away from bold guarantees about the “ethical” treatment of animals it uses for its pricey outerwear amid a probe by the Federal Trade Commission over allegations of false advertising.

In a Wednesday statement, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman sarcastically noted that Canada Goose’s new policy looks “conveniently” timed for a fur ban in California that takes effect in 2023.

“Canada Goose is attempting to ‘humane wash’ its image by switching from fur taken from coyotes whom trappers have recently caught in steel traps to fur that may already be on the market, which is also a product of the cruel actions of trappers,” Reiman said. “This move … won’t endear the struggling company to the young people it’s trying to woo.”