Gucci is being blasted by the Humane Society of the United States for using baby seal fur in a coat in its men's collection — and designer Stella McCartney, one of the fashion house's star talents, is siding with the seals.

HSUS senior VP John W. Grandy sent a letter yesterday to John Ray, Gucci's creative director for men's fashions, protesting the "ebony seal skin fur coat" being sold on Gucci's Web site. "The seals are clubbed or shot to death for their fur, almost all of which is shipped to Europe, where it is sold in fashion markets," Grandy writes. "The seal carcasses are usually left to rot on the ice, because there are few markets for the meat. The Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits the sale of all seal products in the United States, and very little sealskin is sold in Canada. Thus, European fashion designers such as Gucci are largely responsible for the continuation of this barbaric and needless slaughter."

A spokeswoman for Gucci declined to comment, but McCartney is donating a portion of the proceeds from one of her new H&M T-shirts to the Humane Society's Protect Seals campaign.

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