Written by Michelle Kretzer
Elvis Presley has left the building—to help PETA's hound dog "fox" and "rabbit" ask Nashville shoppers to leave animal skins off their holiday gift lists.
One shopper who stopped to talk had to fight back tears—and not because she touched the King of Rock and Roll. She was appalled when the demonstrators explained how sheep used for wool have chunks of skin and flesh cut off their backsides with little to no pain relief.
There's nothing "tender" about the way animals killed for fur are beaten, electrocuted, and skinned alive or the way animals killed for leather have their throats cut and are skinned and dismembered, often while still conscious.
Even if you don't live in Music City, you can still make your holiday shopping list music to animals' ears by choosing gifts that are free of animal skins. And if you receive a dead animal's skin as a present, you can gently "return to sender" and explain why. We think the King would approve.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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