Sporrans are being made from seals bludgeoned to death with ice picks in “barbaric” culls, according to an undercover investigation by animal-rights activists.

Kilt accessory shops in Scotland have been accused of misleading the public by claiming that their sporrans are sourced from “ethical” hunts by Eskimos in Greenland.

However, secret filming by the campaign group International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has established that they were made using the pelts of seals killed in mass culls in Canada.

Every year more than 300,000 seal pups are clubbed to death for their fur. Sir Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather are among those who have campaigned against the practice.

The investigation discovered that sporrans sold by some of Scotland’s leading sporran manufacturers were labelled “Made in Scotland from Greenland seal”. Small numbers of seals are killed humanely by Inuits, of Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers, blamed the tannery in Norway that supplies the pelts and said sporran retailers had acted in good faith.

Nicholsby, who has designed kilts for celebrities including Sir Sean Connery and Robbie Williams, added that he had no problem with selling products made from the pelts of Canadian seals.

“Until recently, as far as the industry knew, Greenland seal was Greenland seal. The tannery needs to be put right and to stop mixing the skins,” he said.

“People need to get their priorities right. Sealskin is the most traditional thing to make a sporran from. It’s Canada’s choice to have this cull. Anybody who has ever eaten a cheeseburger can’t comment — it’s not as if a cow is killed in a nicer way.”

However, Robin McClintock, of Midlothian-based sporran manufacturer Robincraft, said that he was uncomfortable using seal fur and has been trying to push alternatives, such as sporrans made from the hide of cows that have been slaughtered for meat.

However, they do not sell as well and he said that he would carry on making sealskin sporrans because “that’s what the market demands”.

The European Union is considering an import ban on seal products. Animal-rights groups say that this will help to bring an end to the seal cull as Canada would no longer be able to ship pelts through European ports to big markets in China and Russia.

The EU banned the import of white pelts taken from baby seals in 1983, but a wider ban would have serious consequences for hunters and their communities, who rely heavily on the seal hunt. The cull generates about £8m a year.

However, new rules came into force this year to appease concerns in Europe, such as ensuring that the animals are dead before they are skinned.

The Canadian government says the cull provides vital income for fishing communities in Quebec and Newfoundland and is necessary to control seal numbers.

This year’s cull began in March. The Canadian government set a limit of 275,000 harp seals, from a total herd of 5.5m, and 8,200 of 600,000 hooded seals. Of the 224,000 seals killed last year, 98% were pups aged under three months, according to protesters.

In 2006, McCartney and his then wife visited Canada to campaign for an end to the cull, which is the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals. McCartney condemned the practice as “brutal”. Brigitte Bardot, the French former actress, has also campaigned against the culls.

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