The original footwear is made from high-quality Australian sheepskin, taken from animals slaughtered humanely, but this footage shows the brutal treatment of creatures in China whose fur is used to make the fake boots.
The raccoon dogs are shown skinned, but still alive and moving, in the distressing scenes filmed by animal rights campaigners. Thrown on a pile, they can take up to three hours to die.
The MailOnline has chosen not to include the video, as it is too shocking.
One raccoon dog - an indigenous Asian species related to foxes and dogs - is shown lifting its head to the camera briefly before falling back down on the mound of corpses, still breathing.
The shocking footage, published in the Herald Sun, has sparked outrage and has led activists to demand a ban on the raccoon dog trade.
Imitation Ugg boots have flooded the market worldwide and are widely available online and at outlets. Many are imported into Britain.
In Australia, where Uggs - which cost up to £200 - originate, there has been a ban on the import of domestic dog and cat fur since 2004, but raccoon dog fur is still brought in.
An investigation by the Humane Society International (HSI) found a pair of imitation Ugg boots to contain raccoon dog fur, even though they were labelled 'Australian sheepskin'.
HSI director Verna Simpson said dozens of products, aside from the boots, use imported raccoon dog fur - and in other cases dog fur.
SIMPSON: Oh imitations coming out of China, something but twice the price of the locally made product, but with this horrific cruel product on it so. Unfortunately, raccoon dog is not a banned import into Australia. Domestic dog is. We had that banned in 2004, so domestic dog and cat is banned coming in, but racoon dog is a legal import. So I think that needs to be looked at anyway, just considering the cruelty of the way these animals are killed. They don't get the luxury of being knocked out before they die. They're literally skinned alive.
COCHRANE: And how widespread do you think the importation of racoon dog for or other sort of dog fur that might involve animal abuse is with products coming into Australia?
SIMPSON: It's huge, and this is something the government has just ignored. We've been telling them since February, this year, we have found it in so many shops in Sydney, virtually, I can walk down the streets of Sydney and I can find it in about every third shop. We have six dress shops, for instance, in the suburb we're situated in and four of them have dog fur this year. It is everywhere. It is a fashion item and why we're so alarmed and why we want some action is because our people in China are telling us that the orders are ten fold for next winter. It was the biggest fashion line in Sydney and that the orders are massive. And then on the back of that, we're getting stories out of China about all these dogs going missing from backyards. There was just a bust and there were 400 found in the back of a truck and fortunately some of the owners saw someone getting, and they ran it down and it was quite dramatic. But just to keep up with this demand, the fur farmers aren't coping, so now they're just kidnapping dogs.
COCHRANE: Now the Australian Customs Office says that they earlier this year investigated these claims, that the Humane Society has brought to them about Australian retailers selling products containing dog fur. They found or scientific tests did not confirm the presence of this prohibitive fur. Can I get your response to that?
SIMPSON: Well, and this really doesn't only irritate me, it irritates the two leading mammalian hair experts who have confirmed dog and who wrote the book the CSIRO and wrote the book for the government on mammalian hair identification and they're actually challenging these two peoples findings and now a third person, so I've had three independent labs. When I tried to take the product to the government lab, because I said OK, I'm going to come with my testers and we'll do it altogether. I was told it was a government lab and they only did government jobs and I wasn't welcome. So I'm sorry that is really tight and I actually call them out on that, that is absolute garbage. They know dam well, our people were not wrong and they're willing to stand up and have stood up today and they want answers to now.
COCHRANE: Considering the huge outrage that was caused in Australia when the footage of Australian cattle being slaughtered inhumanely in Indonesia, that caused a massive outcry here. Are you expecting the Australian public to be similarly outraged over this?
SIMPSON: When we broke this story and when we got the legislation in 2004, it was the biggest animal issue ever in Australian history and we presented the largest petition to the Australian government. I'm appalled that they just want to turn their back on this. This was a major issue for so many Australians. I don't think it will have the impact. Apparently, we're becoming a little desensitised to cruelty and I don't think it will have the same impact. But at the same time, we were going nowhere. I've had this footage in the vault for seven years now. I never wanted to bring it out again. It's horrible and we wanted to leave it dead and buried, But in light of the government's inactivity, I was just felt I had nowhere else to go. But if I think what the public thinks is going to sway this government, I'd probably have to think again. With over 80 per cent of Australians being against live trade, it's certainly didn't stop them continuing that trade and if I felt that they were jagged by what the Australian public thought, well then I think we would get a result. But I think that they're not.
COCHRANE: Verna Simpson, can I just clarify something that you said there. You said you've had this footage in the vault for seven years. Is this footage seven years old?
SIMPSON: It is seven years old, it's still going on. I mean we've sent a six person team into China and they spent six months there, because we had to prove this trade was going on. Our people in China, it's still going on and we know that by what's coming out and by our tests. So it is old and I made that quite clear to everybody. I've only re-released it because the government has now peeled back on what they promised to do in 2004.
COCHRANE: Can you explain what evidence you have that the trade is still going on in China?
SIMPSON: Oh well, the testing that we're getting coming out, but our people in, we have people in China who are confirming it's still going on. I don't think I mean just recently Ebay had a major. You can have a company take a moral stand, and you can't have a country do it. Ebay found it being sold across their network and they have had it taken off immediately. They didn't have to be asked twice. They just got one call and then they checked it out and yes it was dog fur and yes, it's gone. So when you have, so that's why I'm so appalled at our government's reaction or lack of reaction.
COCHRANE: And just to pin down the details a little bit further. Whereabouts in China is this activity taking place?
SIMPSON: Well, it's actually going on everywhere, but the north of China is where they run a lot of the dog farms, because the hair grows nice and thick in the very cold climate. So there are actual farms and then, of course, there is the poaching off the street and the racoon trade, so it's across the board. But the other thing Liam, is the chromium in this. We have found because in China their tanning methods, they don't have the OHS that we have in Australia and the level of chromium in these products is 733 times the allowable level into the EU. So they would be banned into the EU. And when I had them tested by a university here, they didn't even want to give them back to me. They wanted to burn them, because they said they were so toxic. We've let the health minister know about this other angle and we did that I think that was in February and we haven't even had a response. This is the same chemical that Erin Brockovich. We've just had Newcastle up here evacuated for this same chemical and yet 733 times the allowable level and people are wearing it next to their skin.
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