The AP reported last week that Macy's has pulled two styles of Sean John hoodies following an investigation by the Humane Society which revealed that they contained fur from raccoon dogs, despite the fact that they were being advertised as faux fur. A spokesman for the store talked about its "long-standing policy against the selling of any dog or cat fur," (which, by the way, it's frickin' illegal—hence the policy) and P-Diddy also expressed his outrage and concern, saying "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material, but as soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled off the Macy's floor and Web site."

Here's what I don't get. Why is it that both Macy's and P-Diddy freak out when they discover there are cats and dogs in their clothes, and yet they're perfectly content to produce and sell fur garments made from other animals? I would love to hear them try to come up with a rational answer to that question.

I know that I posted this video a few weeks ago, but this is what happens every day to raccoon dogs who are used for their fur. Not for the faint of heart.

PETA has never been one to let clothes get in the way of a good protest, and this Holiday season is no exception. In Philadelphia this Wednesday, a few lovely PETA ladies let the folks over at Burberry know that they'd rather go naked than wear fur. For anyone who is particularly literal-minded, I should point out that there are countless great alternatives to fur other than Christmas hats, high heels, and your birthday suit, but if you really want people to listen to what you're saying, I highly recommend it as a wardrobe choice.

P.S. If you're planning on doing any last-minute shopping, may I suggest giving Burberry the cold shoulder this Christmas? It'll be good for them in the long run, and fur-bearing animals will be much obliged.

Less than a week after the story broke that Christina Ricci's biggest fansite had taken down all its Christina paraphernalia and replaced it with anti-fur messages following her appearance on PETA's Worst Dressed List, Ms. Ricci has vowed to give up fur for good. In an e-mail to PETA VP Dan Mathews this week, she wrote, "I never meant to hurt nor anger anyone with my insensitivity. For what it is worth, I have received the message loud and clear and will not be wearing fur in the future. I apologize for my offensive actions."

As a thank you to Christina, we've sent her a Christmas basket of goodies and removed her from the Worst Dressed List. A huge thank you is also due to Dodger, who runs the fansite in question. It's kind of next-level to be able to have such a massive effect on a celebrity you're into just by expressing your convictions. The experience has given me hope for all the wonderful things I can do with the fansite I just made for myself.

The story got pickup from E! Entertainment television (and online) and The San Francisco Chronicle among other news outlets, and there's also a great piece about it on Pink Is the New Blog.

After reading about Christina Ricci's continued refusal to stop wearing dead animals (including, for God's sake, reindeer), Dodger, the owner of Ricci's biggest fansite, replaced all of the site's information about her—including more than 900 photos—with PETA anti-fur ads and the following inscription:

When E! Online's gossip columnist heard about the story, he immediately contacted Ricci's publicist, who was evidently all dismissive and uppity about it … until she found out that Dodger's page is the second thing that comes up on Google and a bunch of other search engines if you search for Christina Ricci. You can read E!'s take on the story here, and check out Dodger's powerful message to Christina here.

Meggan, a PETA activist in California, just sent in some great ads she made for peta2.com. This one changed my world a little bit.

This one's for you die-hard Law & Order: CI fans (and closet Wonder Years fans) out there: We spent some time hanging out outside Vogue in New York this week, with some information for the magazine about their continued fur promotions, when who should show up but the lovely Olivia d'Abo? Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool, especially since she's in one of my all-time favorite movies, Kicking and Screaming. Check it out—here she is at the Vogue Christmas party:

Look out, ladies and gentlemen, here comes Madonna. In a £35,000 chinchilla fur coat. For those of you doing the math, that means Madge needs to have more than 60 furry animals electrocuted just to keep her warm on a Wednesday night—which means that if you're planning on being anywhere near her U.K. residence this Christmas, you might want to hide your babies and your family pets. The story, such as it is, is that Madonna was spotted last Wednesday at a Mayfair restaurant called Cecconi's positively drowning in the dead animals, which had been sewn together for her by the designers at Fendi.

Why would anyone with a shred of decency ever consider wearing such a thing? The prevailing theory around here is that when it comes to making headlines, Madonna is just too old to flash her beaver like Britney Spears, so she brought out the chinchilla. (Oh, zing! See what I did there?)

Anyway, we fired off a letter to her this morning to ask her to just for God's sake, stop it, and you can read that here. If you'd like to let her know how you feel yourself, you can contact her using the following information:

Liz Rosenberg (Madonna's US publicist)
liz.rosenberg@wbr.com

Barbara Charone (Madonna's UK publicist)
bc@mbcpr.com

I found this in The Oregonian this morning:

According to the article, Gregg Schumacher, who owned the place, was all whiney and sad about having to close down his store, but I have to admit I had trouble mustering up a whole lot of sympathy. As In Defense of Animals' Matt Rossell put it,

In related news, there have been some monumental strides against fur recently in the cartoon world. Forbes just released a survey of cartoon villains and found that Cruella de Vil has had a sharp dropoff in popularity "as demand for fur coats plummeted." And in last week's Simpsons episode, animal rights crusader Lisa Simpson became a PETA member and doused Krusty with a can of red paint. It has to be admitted that victories in the cartoon world aren't exactly PETA's primary goal, but they're nice all the same.

Getty Images

It's that time of year again, when it starts to get a little bit colder and you can spot a select few of Hollywood's trashiest celebrities strutting around with dead animals strapped to their backs. At PETA, we have far too much tact to name any of these people personally, but we would like to send a general message to all celebrities to please just think hard and search your conscience before you consider buying fur. OK, just kidding, we have a list. Here it is:

PETA's Official 2006 'Worst Dressed' List:

1. Nicole Richie: This pelt-wearing party girl is all animal skin and bones. She’s an incredible shrinking woman with the heart to match.
2. Ashley Olsen: Wearing fur does add 20 pounds, but if Ashley wants to fill out her frame, we suggest using a fork instead.
3. Christina Ricci: Disregarding the holiday season’s “Peace on Earth” message, Ricci recently posed for a magazine cover wearing fur from slaughtered reindeer. At least she’s not into fur hats: Imagine how many more pelts it would take to cover that forehead.
4. Eva Longoria: You’d think she’d be more sympathetic to the plight of rabbits considering the way she screws around like one on Wisteria Lane.

You can vote for the number-one worst-dressed celebrity here. Notable absences from the list are Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, both of whom have made some attempts to ditch the fur from their wardrobes this year—so here's hoping they remember their resolution.

In the meantime, here's Nicole and Ashley!

And finally, in case the pictures of Nicole Richie and Ashley Olson looking like they just got finished robbing graves at a pet cemetery aren't enough to convince you not to wear fur, check this out:

Burberry, still reeling from PETA UK's little visit to their London store last week, got another unpleasant surprise this afternoon when four activists showed up at their 57th Street store in New York. Here's how it went down, according to one of the campaigners who was there:

Meanwhile, on the outside, the protesters spread fake blood all over the window display, summed up the finer points of the fur issue for passersby with chants like "Burberry tortures animals!" and (for the visual learners in the crowd) used TVs strapped to their bodies to show footage of animals being skinned alive for their fur. Check it out:

More pics after the jump.