Too much news piling up, so I'm just gonna spew it atcha:

• Jessica Simpson is "deeply hurt," "disgusted," and "upset" that Pamela Anderson called her "bitch" and "whore" for wearing that "Real Girls Eat Meat" T-shirt. Thankfully, Pam ain't apologizing (though she does claim she was only "kidding" ... we can let a little damage control pass, and still be proud of her, right?).
• A giraffe at a circus in Amsterdam led a jailbreak, helping 15 camels, 2 zebras, and some llamas and pot-bellied pigs escape. (They were later recaptured.) Anyone have links to pictures or video of this?
• The New Scientist tells us that "Rhesus macaques have been shown to possess yet another numerical talent once thought unique to humans – they can simultaneously count audible beeps and dots on a computer screen." Good to know, but can we stop experimenting on them, please?
• Ryan from VegBlog points us to a list of "The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1" and notes "17 of the top 20 (and 9 of the top 10) are vegan. Show this to the next dummy that says, 'Being vegan is too expensive.'"
• The Food Fight! Grocery blog continues to be your go-to source for headlines such as "Dog Meat Off the Menu for Olympics"", "Woman Shoots Herself While Trying to Kill Mice"", "Woman's fingertip bitten off at meat market". Go read. And buy some unhealthy vegan food that costs over $1 while you're at it.
• Lewis Cicero of Fairfield, Connecticut faced either execution or declawing after scratching some of his human neighbors in 2006. His guardian Ruth demanded a trial on criminal charges. The case was just dismissed, as Lewis has kept out of trouble under house arrest.
• The Discerning Brute checks in with some stylish non-silk ties, non-leather martial arts gloves, non-wool post-consumer recycled suits, and more.
• Boing Boing Gadgets points us to this fake Louis Vuitton Piglet Dog purse by artist Meryl Smith (see picture). I don't know where she falls on animal issues, but a lot of her work is animal-related, and her sad greyhound piece The Last Race is pretty affecting.

Reader Hannah sent us this in-depth article about the house cat holocaust going on China in preparation of the Beijing Olympics. The article and accompanying images are very disturbing, though there are some heartwarming tales of individual rescuers. Unlike Athens's genocide against dogs before the 2004 Olympics, this horrible initiative isn't even limited to strays. The government seems to be running a successful propaganda campaign claiming that cats are inherently dangerous and cause all sorts of diseases; many people are turning in their own pets "for safety's sake."

In slightly better news, the Indian state of Kashmir has canceled plans to poison thousands of stray dogs (the numbers vary widely from 2,000 to 100,000) in an attempt to stop rabies. After killing the first 500, authorities have decided to try sterilization instead.

More locally, have you read about the rescues of Phyllis the Bed Stuy Chicken or Denny the Bronx goat? Both happy endings for individuals, but reminders that there are still plenty of active slaughterhouses in New York City.

A year ago, we blogged about Burlington Coat Factory selling fur Baby Phat coats as faux. This was quickly followed by news that Macy's and J.C. Penney were pulling the same stunt with Sean John coats. Feeling left out by Russell Simmons and P. Diddy, Jay-Z's Rocawear was quick to get in on the racket, too, by labeling real fur as fake right on the label.

The Humane Society of the United States has been monitoring this whole mess, and it's not just just a hip hop problem anymore (or limited to ignorant people on eBay). A new HSUS investigation has found mislabeled or misadvertised fur at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Dillards, Yoox, and Bloomingdales. There's background and info on what you can do to help on the HSUS site. For full details, check out the PDF report.

It's bad enough these retailers and manufacturers are selling fur, but can't they at least own up to the fact?

• Doctor Spock recommended a mostly vegan diet for babies, children and adults. And he sold way more books than Nina Planck ever will.
• At the prodding of one legislator's 16-year-old daughter, Israel has outlawed animal testing for cosmetics.
• Posh Victoria Beckham carries vegan diet book Skinny Bitch around. Sales explode--hey, it's selling better than Isa on Amazon!
• An Indian vegetarian won his civil suit for "aggravated damages" against Malaysian Airlines after they served him a meaty on-board meal in 2003. He received 200,000 rupees (about $4,124) in damages, twice as much as this Indian family did for "mental torture."
• And I've always had mixed feelings about raw food, but this Chinese man is giving "live" a whole new (terrible, punny) meaning: he claims eating live frogs and mice for the last forty years has cured his stomach ails.

A few months ago, I got really, really sick of posting about Chinese raccoon dogs and all the terrible department stores their fur was showing up in. Thankfully, two New York legislators have introduced a bill to ban the sale of raccoon dog fur in the state. “Unfortunately, we can’t outlaw the inhumane treatment of these animals in China, but with the legislation I have introduced in the Assembly, we can at least ensure that New York State plays no part in this deplorable practice," said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal. There's also a bill in front of the House Ways and Means Committee in Washington to do the same thing; that one would also require the labeling of all fur items, including those valued at less than $150 (which are exempt from labeling by current law).

I hope the only time I ever post about raccoon dogs again is to tell you that this bill passed. And when they inevitably show up in Felix's cute video collection. (Thanks, Pierre, for the tip.)

Activists in Tianjin recently rescued more than 400 cats who were about to be slaughtered for their fur and meat. Many of the protesters had recently lost their own pets, and suspected they had been abducted by furriers. The police were no help since there is no law in China against killing cats and dogs. But the demonstrators persevered, and after a scuffle the Hebei provincial government allowed the cats to be taken to a nearby shelter.

The Chinese may be ahead of the game in terms of eating fewer animals than the gluttons here in the US, but it's rare to hear of their animal rights successes.

Now Jay-Z’s in on this “faux fur – I mean, raccoon dog” coat collar business, too, but he doesn’t even have the Puff Diddly decency to recant. Insert “bitch” joke here.

Previously on SuperVegan:

• Macy's selling real fur as "fake," too?!
• I guess we should be happy that fake fur is considered more marketable?

The Humane Society has been battling J.C. Penney over those same Sean John coats advertised as "faux fur" and later found to include fur from "raccoons." The HSUS and J.C. Penney both sent the fur to be tested and the labs confirmed that the fur originates from Chinese raccoon dogs. Although they're canines, the dogs are not a domestic breed and are therefore not technically protected under the Dog and Cat Protection Act of 2000.

But while J.C. Penney is abiding by that law, they're 1. claiming the dogs are actually "raccoons" (there's no relation) and 2. blotting out the word "raccoon" on the coat's tags, which 1. is illegal under the Fur Products Labeling Act of 1951 and 2. makes no damn sense. At least Macy's pulled the coats from store shelves.

Looking back at an earlier post about this topic, I found an insightful comment updating this issue. Though it was difficult to find, I did find one source, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, confirming that Beijing's dog culling has been called off due to international outrage. IFAW reports:

Thanks to thousands of letters from concerned animal lovers around the world, including from within China, the anti-dog crackdown in Beijing has been officially stopped. According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese President Hu Jintao “was unhappy about the complaints and international media coverage” of the crackdown and put a stop to it.

The Washington Post reports on the protest leading up to the decision to call off the culling. Reuters follows the story and provides a video of the protests here.

The Humane Society of the U.S. is claiming they bought a Sean John coat with an “imitation” fur collar from Macys.com only to find the label actually read “genuine raccoon fur.” HSUS is testing the fur to see if it’s from the Chinese raccoon dog. Macy’s has a policy against selling dog and cat fur; since this coat incident, HSUS has appealed to the company to stop stocking all fur-trimmed clothing.

Reuters reports here, via Yahoo.

This is quick on the dirty heels of the reports that Burlington Coat Factory has also been selling real fur as fake.