For Immediate Release:
February 3, 2004

Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382

Los Angeles — The fur is flying—right out the door—at the Osbourne household this week. Moved by PETA’s exposés about the suffering of animals trapped, drowned, and electrocuted to make fur coats, Sharon Osbourne announced on The Sharon Osbourne Show today that she is ridding her closets of fur. She also spotlighted PETA’s Fur Giveaway program, which sends unwanted fur coats to the needy around the world.

Over the years, PETA has received thousands of fur coats from people—including Kimberley Hefner and Mary Tyler Moore—who have been sickened by exposés of cruelty to animals caught in leghold traps and driven mad in tiny cages on fur farms. So many unwanted furs pour in that PETA has started to donate them to the needy. The group has distributed fur coats to the homeless at shelters across North America and Europe and to Afghan refugees. Currently, PETA is sending hundreds of furs to victims of the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran.

"We can’t undo the torture that these animals endured, but we can bring a little warmth to people in desperate need," says Lisa Franzetta, PETA’s Fur Campaign coordinator. "Only people who are truly struggling to survive have any excuse for wearing fur. The rest of us can choose coats made from fashionable, warm synthetics that don’t cost animals an arm and a leg—and their lives."

One needs to look no further than the red carpet of any Hollywood gala to see that celebrities still categorically eschew fur. It’s nowhere to be seen. Oscar-winner Kim Basinger was among the first in Tinsel Town to doff her duds for PETA’s sexy "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ads. Pamela Anderson, Christina Applegate, P!nk, Mary Tyler Moore, and Ellen DeGeneres have all donated their time and talents to PETA’s Anti-Fur Campaign.

For information on how to join PETA’s Fur Giveaway program, please call 1-888-FUR-AWAY, or visit PETA’s Web site FurIsDead.com.