‘Goose’ Urges Leicester Shoppers to Steer Clear of Down Duvets and Coats

For Immediate Release:

24 October 2017

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

‘GOOSE’ URGES LEICESTER SHOPPERS TO STEER CLEAR OF DOWN DUVETS AND COATS

PETA Protest on the High Street Calls for Shoppers to Turn Their Backs on Products Made From Battered Birds

 Leicester – Today, flanked by PETA supporters holding signs with the message “Down Hurts,” a giant plucked “goose” descended on Leicester’s high street calling for shoppers to steer clear of down items and for change-resistant companies that still sell the cruelly obtained material to remove it from their inventories.

Images are available here, here, and here.

“Geese feel pain and panic when their feathers are ripped out, just as we would do if someone pulled the hair from our heads,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “There’s simply no way to ensure birds aren’t suffering when they’re used for down, which is why PETA is calling on Leicester consumers and companies alike to go 100 per cent down-free.”

As exposed by PETA– whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – birds used in the down industry are often pinned to the ground by workers who violently yank fistfuls of feathers from their delicate skin. Sometimes, they’re left with gaping wounds – which workers then sew back together without any pain relief. Down is also linked to the cruel foie gras industry – which force-feeds birds so that their livers swell to up to 10 times their normal size and then sells the diseased organs – as many producers of foie gras boost their profits by selling the feathers of birds on their farms. Modern and plush down-free options are often made with recycled materials, and unlike down, they don’t collect dust and mould and they even insulate when wet.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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