Written by PETA
Break out the party hats: Another retailer has gone fur-free! After PETA sent Caché women's specialty retailer a video showing animals being poisoned, gassed, skinned alive, and killed in other cruel ways, the company's chief executive officer informed us that Caché would stop selling real fur. Woot, woot!
According to one fur trade journal, U.S. mink farms sold 28,000 fewer skins in 2009 than in 2008, and the value of the skins that were sold dropped by 38 percent. Fur imports have also dropped considerably.
"Fur is back," my behind!
Let's keep hammering away at the fur industry—animals on fur farms don't get a summer vacation. To find out more, read the longer version of this blog on Care2
Written by Heather Moore
Next! The British fashion giant Next, that is. The mega-retailer has announced that because the nefarious Australian wool industry has reneged on its promise to ban the mulesing mutilation (which involves hacking hunks of flesh off lambs' backsides) by 2010, Next will now only "source wool from outside Australia or from Australian sources which guarantee that mulesing with shears or clips has ceased."
"Next believes that the continuation of mulesing beyond the 2010 deadline previously self-imposed by the Australian sheep industry is unacceptable," the company announced in a statement. Next joins other leading retailers and designers—including Abercrombie & Fitch, Timberland, H&M, American Eagle, Liz Claiborne, Hugo Boss, Perry Ellis International, Coldwater Creek, and many more—that have pledged not to use wool from mulesed lambs.
You can help stop this unnecessary mutilation by encouraging Talbots (one retailer that has failed to take action) to follow in Next's footsteps and stop purchasing Australian wool.
Written by Alisa Mullins
… now that Russell Simmons has shown her just how cruel the fur industry is. After Russell showed Brooke the video footage from our investigation of Chinese fur farms, she had some great stuff to say.
My personal fav:
"I'd be happy to have my five minutes with one of those animal abusers in a dark alley …"
Dude, have you seen her dad? If he didn't teach this girl how to Atomic Leg Drop some punks, I'd be surprised. Furriers best be watching their backs.
You can read the rest of her blog entry over at Global Grind.
Written by Shawna Flavell
As one of PETA's resident experts put it, "I wish every Jew in the world would read this article."
'Nuff said. Read it.
Written by Joel Bartlett
Remember this?
Hot, right? Well, we have one more stellar Jenna ad to add to her ever-growing body of work with PETA. The super-sexy star just shot a new TV ad in support of our McCruelty campaign, and it will be hitting the airwaves this fall!
In the 30-second spot, Jenna says, "If you ask chickens, there's no such thing as a 'Happy Meal.' Chickens killed for McNuggets are dumped onto conveyer belts. Their fragile legs are slammed into metal shackles. … Spinning blades meant to cut their throats often tear through their wings or bodies instead. Many birds survive this terrifying, painful process, only to be scalded to death in defeathering tanks. There's a less cruel method of slaughter that renders chickens unconscious, but McDonald's chooses to allow birds to be mutilated and scalded instead."
Stay tuned!
If Rover's running with a little more spring in his step today, it may be because he heard the good news. Banfield—the largest network of animal hospitals in the U.S.—has announced that it will stop performing three painful and needless cosmetic procedures: tail-docking, ear-cropping, and debarking.
Banfield's decision follows that of the American Veterinary Medical Association, which, while getting a lot of things wrong during its recent convention in Seattle, got this one right: It upheld its opposition to these vile procedures.
Dr. Karen Faunt, Banfield's vice president for medical quality advancement, notes, "It is our hope that this new medical protocol will help reduce, and eventually eliminate, these cosmetic procedures altogether."
Amen to that! Here's hoping that next on the list is banning the declawing of cats.
Written by Jeff Mackey
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.
Follow PETA on Twitter!