PETA UK Stocking Up on Fur

© iStockPhoto.com / arsgera

I suppose that’s a bit of a weird statement coming from an animal rights organisation, but if you own a fur coat, one of the best things you can do to it is send it to PETA. That way it can be recycled, given to the homeless or used as animal bedding or in one of PETA’s hard-hitting demonstrations. Using fur coats to save animals from being turned into fur coats – genius, eh?

Today I was volunteering in the PETA office and had the task of sorting through all the furs PETA has been donated. It breaks my heart to know these animals suffered terribly before their eventual death. Some of them may have been skinned alive, others possibly electrocuted through their mouths or genitals – and some might even have been bludgeoned to death or shot by hunters. However they had been killed, there they were in front of me on the floor of the office, about to be used for something positive.

It was the footage on PETA’s YouTube channel from the Chinese fur farms which first made me think about why animals have rights. Seeing footage of a skinned animal still alive and lying in the dirt hit me really hard.

I suppose I’ve never really understood why people would wear fur, and after spending a day handling the furs in the PETA office, I understand it even less – who would want to wear a dead animal? Not only does it feel gross and smell bad, it also screams out to strangers that you are a heartless person who cares more about fashion than compassion. If I had any fur – and I’m very proud to say I don’t and never will – I’d ship it straight off to PETA. Why not follow the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Simon Cowell and Tamara Ecclestone in being proud to be fur-free.