Blindfolded Activists Protest Against Benetton Over Cruelty To Sheep

Protests Part of Hundreds Worldwide in PETA’s ‘Month of Action’ to Stop Retailer Using Australian Wool Until Mutilation and Live Export End


For Immediate Release:
7 March 2005


Contact:
Sean Gifford  +44 (0)20 7357 9229 ext. 226


Portugal – Wearing blindfolds and carrying signs reading, “Benetton: Blind to Animal Suffering”, members of ANIMAL and  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will gather outside Benetton stores in Porto and Lisbon to give potential customers leaflets showing horrific abuse of lambs and sheep by Australia’s wool industry. The action is part of an intense international campaign to urge the retail chain to stop selling garments made with Australian wool until a gruesome procedure called “mulesing” (live flaying) and live sheep exports are banned:



Date:  Tuesday, 8 March
Time: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Place: Rua de Santa Catarina 181, Porto


Date:  Wednesday, 9 March
Time: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Place: Rua Garret 83/93, Lisbon



“Mulesing” is a crude mutilation in which Australian farmers use gardening shears to carve flesh from lambs’ backsides without painkillers as a cheap way to try to reduce maggot infestation, even though more sophisticated, humane control methods exist. When their wool is no longer needed, millions of sheep are shipped to the Middle East through all weather extremes aboard open-deck, multi-tiered ships. Many sick and injured sheep, treated as mere cargo, are thrown overboard or ground up alive in mincing machines. The survivors of this gruelling voyage have their throats slit while they are still fully conscious.



After years of asking the Australian government to end these atrocities, PETA US announced an international boycott of Australian wool in October 2004 and has already won the support of prestigious retailers Abercrombie & Fitch in the US and George and New Look in the UK. ANIMAL is now helping to launch the campaign in Portugal.



“The ‘united colours’ of Benetton are turning blood red,” says PETA Director of European Campaigns Sean Gifford. “If Benetton wants to wipe the blood of millions of sheep off its hands, it must refuse to sell clothes made from Australian wool.”



PETA is urging consumers to boycott Benetton until it pledges to stop using Australian wool and is bombarding Benetton with ads and protests around the world to alert the public to the company’s support of cruelty. For more information, please visit UnitedCrueltyOfBenetton.com.



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