Can NOT get rid of that smell, help!

I hope I'm not intruding here, looks like a great discussion forum!  I'm not a professional carpet cleaner but I am in need of help!

We have a 5' circular rug we purchased from Pottery Barn Outlet.  As such it is not returnable.  It looked clean at the store and seemed fine.  When we got it home, we noticed a "smell" that the only way can be descibed is that it smells like RUBBER.  Yes, that's right, the rug smells like rubber.  Almost like "burnt rubber".  I really can't think of anything else.

The rug is very similar to this: http://ww2.potterybarnkids.com//cat/pip.cfm?src=schp1%7Ct4%7 Cv0%7Cwalphabet%5Cssoup%2Fhme&pkey=xsrd0n1%7C16%7C1%7C%7 C%7C%7C%7C%7Calphabet%20soup&gids=k4082&cmsrc=kwd

We have vaccumed it several times, deep cleaned it with carpet cleaner, let it sit in the sun for 3 days on 3 separate occaisions, hosed it down twice, and no matter what we do to this rug, we can not get rid of this rubber smell.  It seems to be coming from the backing on the throw rug.

The smell is so bad that we don't want to use it in our baby's room anymore.  With the door closed when you go in the room there is this rubber smell everywhere which is obviously not something we want our infant inhaleing on a regular basis.

Does anyone know what could be causing this, and if there is any way to get rid of it?  We are starting to think that this is some type of manufacturing defect and no matter how much we clean it we will never get rid of the smell.

Please help.  Thanks!

Thank you so much for the info.

What are these "fillers" made of, and is this smell dangerous to inhale on a somewhat regular basis?    We are very concerned this rug could be causing some of our baby's respiratory problems.

Thanks everyone.  I have more specifics on the rug from the tag.

"Pottery Barn Kids Animals Rug Tapis: 100% wool pile / poil de laine

Thank you for purchasing your rug from Pottery Barn Kids.  This rug is handmade and like any handmade product, it requires care to keep looking beautiful.  With the right maintenance it will last for many years.

MADE IN INDIA" (good guess!)

...and it says right on the tag in the lower left corner "this product contains natural rubber latex" (no kidding!!!)

Pottery Barn Kids, San Francisco, CA 94109 www.potterybarnkids.com

I think the rug is normally $300, we found it on sale at the outlet store for $80 I think.  We don't have the receipt anymore.  I doubt Pottery Barn would take it back after owning it 6 months and without a receipt!

We are now fully freaked out what this rug has been doing to our baby.

LilNiteRidrhood wrote: What do you mean by "good guess". Hand made and hand knotted are two different things.

I just mean you said in your post "Likely made in India.", and you were right!

Yes we're pretty sure, it hasn't been wet in a few months.  It smells exactly like latex to me.

for us... but Ms. JoeBumkin as never smelt wet wool...

I've heard it at least a million times by now...

my wool rug smells funny when wet