Naked PETA Beauty Asks Baton Rouge Shoppers to Leave Snakes in the Jungle

Group Says Animals Are Bludgeoned, Skinned Alive to Make Exotic Leather Products

For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2010

Contact:
Shakira Croce  757-622-7382 

Baton Rouge, La. -- With her naked body painted like snakeskin under a banner that reads, "Exotic Skins Belong in the Jungle--Not on Your Feet," a PETA member will lead a protest on Thursday urging shoppers to scratch exotic-animal skins off their shopping lists. Other activists will hold signs reading, "Whose Skin Are You In?" PETA wants shoppers to know that exotic animals are skinned alive, beaten to death, or killed for their skins in other cruel ways.

Where:  Intersection of Third and Florida streets (southwest corner), Baton Rouge
When:   Thursday, March 25, 12 noon

Although most of the leather sold in the U.S. comes from cows, other species--including snakes, alligators, and kangaroos--are hunted and killed specifically for their skins. Snakes are commonly nailed to trees or posts and skinned alive. Their mutilated bodies are discarded, and it sometimes takes hours for them to die. Alligators are often crammed into tiny spaces on factory farms and are beaten to death with hammers or axes. According to the Australian government code for hunting kangaroos, orphaned babies and wounded adults are to be decapitated or hit sharply on the head.

"I'll gladly bare some of my skin if it will help save animals' skins," says PETA's Ashley Byrne. "We're asking Baton Rouge residents to take a bite out of cruelty by giving snakeskin and other types of exotic leather the boot."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.