Help Us Wipe Out Leather and Fur!
As a recent article in the Los Angeles Times says, it’s time to “Move over, leather.” The hottest trend today is funky and animal-friendly pleather—with a “p,” please—which can look just like the real thing ... or “as fake as Gwen Stefani’s hair.” And fur has fallen so far from grace, European pelt-pushers are desperately trying to tempt hard-up fashion students with big-bucks sponsorships—in exchange for including even a bit of trim in their collections. Says Robert Gillan, the head of fashion at Edinburgh College of Art, “It’s bribery—absolutely revolting.” We’ve been working hard to keep skins on the skids—and you can help! Read on.

PETA Puts Fur Where It Belongs...
PETA captured great media attention by delivering a truckload of donated fur coats to a big-city dump to remind the public that fur is a cruel waste.

Make your closet a fur-free zone. Toss your unwanted fur coat or stole our way, for use in an eye-catching demo. To contact PETA, see page 2.

The Fur Fight Heats Up
Most people show some skin when they hit the beach, but to make a point, members of PETA covered up. PETA members endured searing heat in full-length fur coats, hats, and boots to let people know that hundreds of thousands of foxes, minks, and other animals die of heat exhaustion on fur farms every summer.

Make a fashion statement in PETA’s “Fur Is Dead” T-shirt. And never let fur-wearers pass without doing something—hand them a fur card or simply say, “Shame.”

Sex and the City “Fakes” It
Now, you can turn on HBO’s Sex and the City without being turned off by the fur. After the series’ furry season premiere (and a proclamation by Women’s Wear Daily that Sex might boost lagging fur sales), PETA met with costume designer Pat Field to plead the animals’ case. Field immediately had all photos of cast members in fur removed from the show’s official Web site, and she said, “Had we known that the show’s characters would be seen as trendsetters, we would have been more careful how we dressed them.”
Pleather has also made an appearance on Sex. When a party host asks the character Carrie, “Is that pleather?” she replies, “Yes, and thanks so much for noticing.”
Remember: Animal suffering is always a turnoff! Keep your wardrobe cruelty-free by buying only synthetic skins. And show your friends PETA’s exposé of the leather industry.

From pleather pumps and hemp purses to synthetic soccer balls and rubber biker jackets, PETA’s first-ever “Shopping Guide to Nonleather Products” has something for everyone! Contact PETA today for your free copy. For more info, check out PETA’s CowsAreCool.com.

Moby Wants to See Your Shoes!
Cutting-edge veg musician Moby has some great nonleather shoes—do you? Take a photo of your feet in them and send it to us—you may be featured in an upcoming issue of Animal Times! One lucky winner will receive a pair of Pangea’s NoBull Savage hiking boots (for info about NoBull footwear, contact pangeaveg.com, or in the U.K., veganstore.co.uk). Send the photo, your contact info and the name of the shoes’ manufacturer to: PETA Shoe Contest, 501 Front St., Norfolk,
VA 23510.

The Animal-Friendly Skies
Leather is grounded as far as Alitalia, Ansett Australia, Continental, TWA
and Virgin airlines are concerned: These companies will use only synthetic materials for their new planes’ seats.

Ask your favorite airlines to switch to synthetics, too—and be sure to mention if you’re a frequent flier. Always leave a trail of PETA’s leather leaflets wherever you go—including airport lounges, hotel rooms and airplane seat pockets.

Indian Cattle Update

PETA’s international campaign against the notoriously cruel Indian cattle trade has made headlines around the world—thanks to help from celebrity supporters like Chrissie Hynde, Paul McCartney and British Members of Parliament Tony Banks and Ashok Kumar and our protest. Officials in India are starting to take action. The Chengalpattu police recently seized nearly 400 cattle and goats who were being illegally transported to slaughterhouses during the dead of night.

PETA's Aaron Gross and "cow" dogged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his U.S. tour.
PETA has also been meeting with trade groups and government officials to improve conditions for animals. India’s Council for Leather Exports has taken several steps, not only halting all purchases of hides originating at Deonar in Mumbai, one of India’s most notorious slaughterhouses, but also calling on the Indian government to enforce cattle transport laws. This could help prevent transporters from overloading cattle and calves, who now often arrive injured or dead at slaughterhouses.

And we’ve met with religious leaders in India and with diplomats and government officials in Malaysia and from the United Arab Emirates, the largest importers of meat from Indian cattle, asking them to reject meat from India falsely labeled as “halal” (meaning produced and slaughtered in the ritual Islamic manner). Much of the meat coming from India
can in no way be considered halal because of hideous cruelty before
cattle have their throats slit.

PETA's Poorva Joshipura met with the govenor of Karnataka state to discuss the plight of cattle in India
Even small changes can make an enormous difference in these animals’ lives, and we will continue to push for improvements.

Write to the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, c/o Embassy of India, 2107 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20008, or c/o The High Commission of India, India House, Aldwych, London WC2B 4NA, or the High Commission of India, 10 Springfield Rd., Ottawa, Ontario K1M 1C9.

The Dalai Lama and Jackie Chan Help “Write” Wrongs

At PETA’s request, the Dalai Lama, Jackie Chan and Ravi Jayewardene, son of the late Sri Lankan president, wrote to India’s prime minister, asking him to end the abuses in his country’s cattle trade. The Dalai Lama said that the way the cows are treated “is too horrific for words.” Added Jackie,“I am especially alarmed that such abuses... continue in this wonderful land where reverence for life is a matter of national pride.”