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PETA's Latest Anti-Fur Ad

In the 1990s, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals gained a lot of publicity with its “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur Ads” featuring super models doing just that. But recently fur has made quite a comeback in fashion circles, and many of those same models are once again appearing on runways decked out in fur rather than in their birthday suits.

So now PETA is turning to singer Sophie Ellis Bextor for an anti-fur campaign photographed by Paul McCartney’s daughter Mary McCartney.

The ad features Bextor holding up a skinned fox with the words, “Here’s the rest of your fur coat.”

Yes, PETA used a real fox for the shoot. According to PETA, the fox was found dead and skinned for the sake of the photo shoot. A Northern Territory News story on the ad noted that the photo shoot “had to be curtailed to one hour because of the stench of the decomposing animal.”

Bextor said she wanted to make a strong stand against fur,

I think fur is really pathetic when there are so many alternatives.

I’m part of the generation that grew up with the ‘We’d rather go naked than wear fur’ campaign and it’s something that really struck a chord with me. It felt a very natural thing to do, to be on the side of the animals when it came to fur.

PETA’s Dawn Carr admitted to The Daily Telegraph that fur had made a comeback in fashion shows,

We have been seeing a lot more fur on the catwalks recently. But, obviously, fashion shows do not reveal the pain and suffering behind each garment.

Animals are electrocuted, gassed and have their necks broken in the name of fashion. We are trying to make the point that fur is never going to be back in fashion.

We have never used a skinned, dead animal in this way before. It is quite shocking and quite difficult to look at.

But Sue Carroll, a columnist for The Mirror, put PETA’s message into the proper perspective,

Most women wear leather, not fur. Why wasn’t Sophie posing next to the skeleton of a cow with the slogan, “Here’s the rest of your shoes.”

Source:

Comment on Anti-Fur Advert. Sue Carroll, The Mirror, November 13, 2002.

Pop singer brandishes skinned fox in protest against the fur trade. Sally Pook, The Daily Telegraph (London), November 12, 2002.

Anti-fur campaigners step up battle. Graham Hiscott, Press Association, November 12, 2002.

Sophie attacks fur trade with advert shocking image: Sophie Ellis Bextor with a skinned fox. Birmingham Evening Mail, November 12, 2002.

Fur flies as Sophie joins fight. Northern Territory News, November 14, 2002.

Animal Rights Extremists Suspected in Arson Attack on Meat Trucks in UK

Police in Great Britain suspect animal rights extremists may have been involved in an arson attack on two trucks at a meat processing plant in Great Britain.

Originally police suspected a pair of arsonists currently terrorizing trucks in Great Britain, but now say they believe animal rights activists were likely behind a fire that destroyed the two truck at the Baron of Beef plant.

Company president George Wallace told The Evening Chronicle,

I think it is more likely that this was a strike against the meat industry by extremists. I have had things like dead rats sent to me in the post.

They got in before our security guard came on duty, but I am now electrifying the fence and getting 24-hour protection.

Regardless of who is responsible, the fire illustrates just how dangerous this sort of fire can be. Around 8:20 p.m. the arsonists entered the compound and set fire to a refrigerated truck filled with meat. The flames from that fire then spread to a second truck.

Fifteen firefighters spent nearly two hours bringing the blazed under control. This was especially important, because a factory near the fire contains cylinders of compressed cyanide which is commonly used in a variety of industrial chemical processes. That fire that involved just one meat truck at first, in fact created a high risk not only for the firefighters but for everyone in a several mile radius.

Source:

Cops in arson probe as meat trailers hit. The Evening Chronicle, November 12, 2002.

New Charges Made in Alabama Greyhound Killings

One of the more shocking incidents of alleged animal cruelty this year was the discovery of a mass grave of 2,000 to 3,000 greyhounds in Alabama. In October and November, several arrests were made in that case.

In May 2002, Robert L. Rhodes, 68, was arrested and charged with violating Alabama’s animal cruelty statutes. Rhodes worked as a security at a greyhound track in Florida and admitted to killing the greyhounds over a period of 40 years.

Rhodes killed with animals with a shot to the head from a .22 caliber, and sometimes took $10/dog from owners to kill the animals. Police believe that individuals at various greyhound race tracks throughout Florida shipped animals to Rhodes to be killed.

Rhodes defense is that shooting the animals once in the head is not cruel under Alabama laws.

In November three Florida residents were arrested in the case and a fourth is wanted but has not yet been located. Ursula O’Donnell was arrested at Melbourne Greyhound Park in Melbourne; Paul Discolo Jr. was arrested at Ebro Greyhound Park in Chipley; and John W. Smith was arrested in Marathon.

Alabama plans to ask for the four individuals to be extradited to that state for prosecution. The indictments against the Floridians charges them with committing torture against the dogs.

Source:

Greyhounds killing probe brings additional arrests. Associated Press, November 8, 2002.

More Arrests in Case of Thousands of Slain Greyhounds; HSUS Says Deaths Indicative of Inherent Cruelties in Greyhound Racing. Humane Society of the United States, Press Release, November 8, 2002.

Minnesota Daily Profile of Kevin Kjonaas

The Minnesota Daily did an excellent in-depth look at the animal rights movement on the campus of the University of Minnesota, with special attention paid to Kevin Kjonaas. Kjonaas is currently the main force behind Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. As a student at the University of Minnesota, he was involved in a group called the Student Organization for Animal Rights.

There are two items that stand out in reporter Dylan Thomas’ piece. The first is Kjonaas’ reply to questions about the use of violence and other attacks against researchers,

Kjonaas said SHAC does not participate in direct attacks on researchers or property but the group’s endorsement of the ALF and others who have physically beaten Huntingdon researches or destroyed property has garnered much controversy.

That controversy doesn’t deter Kjonaas.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with supporting individuals who risk life and liberty to free animals,” he said.

“Whether or not the public regards . . . direct action as fringe or as extremist or terroristic or whatever label they want to put on it, doesn’t really matter to us because the public at large is apathetic and is going to sit on its ass regardless of whether it agrees with us or not,” Kjonaas said.

Then what’s the point?

The other part is an amusing anecdote about an Animal Liberation Front animal release at the University of Minnesota in 1999. On April 5, 1999, activists broke into several labs and stole more than 100 animals including a number of pigeons. The ALF put out a press release claiming that all the animals had been placed in caring homes.

The only problem was the pigeons were tagged and someone noticed and reported that some of the tagged pigeons were, in fact, spotted near Interstate 94. The university dispatched someone to retrieve the pigeons.

And Kjonaas and other activists take on the matter? The pigeons on Interstate 94 were planted there by the university to make the ALF terrorists look bad. Yeah, it was probably The Smoking Man himself who put them there to cover up research on aliens being carried out at the University of Minnesota.

Source:

Animal rights advocates clash with U. Minnesota researchers. Dylan Thomas, Minnesota Daily (University of Minnesota), November 11, 2002.

PETA Features David Duke in Bizarre Billboard Ad

Most of the times People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is intentionally offensive to garner media attention. But sometimes it’s really hard to tell what (if anything) PETA is trying to accomplish with some of its more bizarre ads and stunts.

Such is the case with a billboard that PETA is running in Shreveport that features an image of David Duke — used without the knowledge or permission of the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan — that parodies the “Got Milk?” advertisements.

The ad shows Duke’s image with a white mustache. The copy on the ad reads, “Got (lactose) intolerance? The white stuff saint’ the right stuff.”

Yeah, that one left me scratching my head too. According to PETA’s Bruce Friedrich,

David Duke is the perfect milk-industry poster child since he’s identified by many as being intolerant. . . . It’s a public domain photograph, but no one in their right mind applauds David Duke and no one in their right mind should be drinking milk.

That’s even more logically confused than normal for Friedrich. That makes about as much sense as putting up a picture of accused-Pim Fortuyn assassin Volkert van Der Graaft and arguing that since van Der Graaft is a killer, so is a vegan diet.

But then again, no one ever accused Friedrich and PETA of trying to make sense.

Source:

Anti-milk ad features David Duke. Alan Sayre, Associated Press, November 11, 2002.

Nigeria: Adultery Death Sentences Will Be Stopped

Reacting to negative attention it has received on the subject ahead of the Miss World pageant, the Nigerian government this month reiterated that it will not allow death sentences to be carried out against woman convicted of adultery.

Twelve states in Nigeria’s Muslim-dominated North have adopted Islamic sharia law which calls for death by stoning for individuals convicted of adultery or rape. Several women have been sentenced to be stoned to death under the law, though none of these sentences has been carried out yet.

Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia said that Nigeria would use “its constitutional powers to thwart any negative ruling, which is deemed injurious to its people.”

Nigerian officials have said before that they the death by stoning sentences are unconstitutional, but they have also soft-pedaled their statements somewhat as they look ahead to nationwide elections in 2003.

Left unanswered was how northern Muslims will view the national government’s increasingly firm anti-sharia stance. Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo is a southern Christian, and violence between Muslims, Christians and animists has claimed more than 8,000 lives since Obasanjo’s 1999 election.

Source:

Nigeria vows to block stoning deaths. Glenn McKenzie, Associated Press, November 10, 2002.