PETA To Grill Burberry Execs At Annual Meeting Over Fur

For Immediate Release:
16 July 2008


Contact:
Bruce Friedrich 020 7357 9229 ext 224; [email protected]


London – A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) representative will make a statement from the floor of Burberry’s annual meeting on Thursday. The group will call on the clothier to end its use of fur. In its statement, PETA will point out that 93 per cent of the British public opposes the use of fur in fashion and that many top designers – including Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney – have rejected the use of fur:


Date:       17 July 2008
Time:       9:30 a.m.
Place:      British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 195 Piccadilly, London


PETA has sent Burberry executives video footage which documents that animals caught in traps and used for their fur often resort to chewing off their own limbs to escape. The footage also shows that animals on fur farms live in tiny, filthy cages where they go insane from stress and confinement before they are gassed or electrocuted or their necks are broken. Because cruel fur farms are banned in the UK, Burberry imports fur from Finland. Video footage from fur farms in Finland shows that animals are exposed to all weather extremes and that they are denied everything which is natural and important to them. The video footage can be viewed here:  http://peta.org.uk/bb  


“We want Burberry to recognise that in the 21st century, there are stylish, comfortable alternatives to fur”, says PETA Europe Founder Ingrid E Newkirk. “Animal welfare is important to shoppers, so if the Burberry label stays linked to animal abuse, shareholders might pay the price in diminishing returns.”


For more information and to view video footage of animals on a Finnish fur farm, please visit PETA.org.uk.


PETA’s full statement is available upon request.