People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals vented its displeasure at news that Sen. Hillary Clinton recently had a new mink coat made for her by Manhattan furrier Peter Duffy. PETA released a press release saying,
After several twists and turns, denials, and a cover-up, Senator Clinton’s staff has now admitted that she has a new fur coat. Perhaps she has forgotten that every year, millions of animals, including rabbits, minks, foxes, and raccoons, are trapped in the wild in barbaric steel-jaw leghold traps. Those who don’t freeze or starve are usually beaten to death, jumped on to crush their ribs and lungs, or suffocated. Animals, particularly mother animals anxious to reach their helpless young, have even been known to endure the pain of chewing off their own limbs in order to free themselves from traps. And of course, fur farms are just as hideous. After months of fear and being confined to crowded, filthy cages, suffering extreme weather conditions and unbearable stress, the animals are forcibly removed from the cages and killed by suffocation, neck-breaking, or genital electrocution. Sometimes, these methods only stun—not kill—the animals, who end up being skinned alive.
Apparently when originally contacted by PETA, Clinton’s staffers decided to claim that the coat was actually velvet — a story that was quickly contradicted in a number of New York-area newspapers.
In fact, Clinton staffers ultimately confessed in January that,
The senator has owned a mink coat for 25 years, and because it was worn, she traded it in.
Sources:
Hillary mink mystery solved. New York Post, January 19, 2004.
Urge Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Stop the Violence. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, undated.