‘Grim Reaper’ Student Activists in Halloween-Themed Anti-Fur Protest at Keele University

For Immediate Release:

4 November 2019

Contact:

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

‘GRIM REAPER’ STUDENT ACTIVISTS IN HALLOWEEN-THEMED ANTI-FUR PROTEST AT KEELE UNIVERSITY

PETA Supporters Spread ‘Fur Is Dead’ Message

Keele – On Friday, PETA campus reps from Keele University dressed as Grim Reapers and held “bloody fur” at the Forest of Light – and around the university campus – while brandishing signs which read, “It’s Not Fashion, It’s Violence.” The bone-chilling spectacle drew attention to the ways animals are raised and killed for the fur trade.

Photos from the action are available here, here, and here.

“The fur industry – it electrocutes and bludgeons living beings for nothing more than fashion accessories,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “We applaud these compassionate students for taking a stand against this cruel trade.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – notes that over 100 million animals are killed each year for their fur. On fur farms, animals are confined to cramped wire cages, denied the opportunity to do anything that’s natural or important to them, and killed by electrocution, neck-breaking, or drowning. Animals are also caught in the wild in steel-jaw traps and left to languish – sometimes for days – before succumbing to dehydration, starvation, disease, or attacks by predators or being bludgeoned to death by returning trappers.

The majority of today’s fashion designers – including Burberry, Armani, Chanel, Gucci, and Versace – have introduced policies against using fur in their collections. High-end fashion events including Oslo Fashion Week and Melbourne Fashion Week have banned fur from their catwalks, and faux-fur manufacturer Ecopel has announced plans to produce a new material made from recycled plastic bottles in order to alleviate both animal suffering and the growing plastic-pollution crisis.

PETA is looking for new campus representatives to speak out for animals at universities across the UK – to find out more, click here.

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

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