Victory: Boohoo Bans Angora Products After Viewing PETA Video

For Immediate Release:
23 December 2014

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

Online Fashion Giant Releases Statement Recognising ‘Cruel and Inhumane Practices’ Documented in PETA Exposé

London – Following almost a year of pressure from PETA and more than 10,000 e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter messages from PETA supporters over the last couple of days, Boohoo has joined retailers such as ASOS, Forever 21, H&M and dozens of others in implementing a permanent policy banning angora. Today, the company updated its animal welfare policy to include this statement:

As a result of recent investigations by PETA [Asia], which have uncovered cruel and inhumane practices during the harvesting process, boohoo has committed to a ban on the use of angora in any of its products.

“By banning all angora products from its international websites, Boohoo has done the right thing for animals and consumers”, says PETA UK’s Mimi Bekhechi. “Angora production is cruel, and PETA urges all remaining retailers to follow Boohoo’s example and show that cruelty to animals has no place in their stores.”

PETA Asia’s unprecedented investigation shows that rabbits who have their fur cut or sheared also suffer greatly during the cutting process. Their front and back legs are tightly tethered so that they can be stretched out over a board – a terrifying experience for any prey animal. Others are suspended in the air by their forelimbs. Rabbits have very thin skin, and the sharp cutting tools inevitably wound them as they struggle desperately to escape. The angora farming industry also condemns these intelligent animals to spend years in isolation in small, filthy wire cages that cut into their sensitive paws and prevent them from carrying out normal behaviour, exercising and interacting with other rabbits. These are standard practices in the barbaric angora industry. Regardless of whether the rabbits have been plucked or sheared, if a label says “angora”, it means that rabbits have suffered. There quite simply is no way to source angora responsibly, which is why so many companies have switched to humane, animal-free fabrics which are readily available.

Photos from the investigation are available on request. For more information or to view an up-to-date list of companies that have committed to a ban on angora, please click here or visit PETA.org.uk.

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