PETA US to LVMH: To Avoid Next Pandemic, Drop Fur and Exotic Skins Now
PETA US to LVMH: To Avoid Next Pandemic, Drop Fur and Exotic Skins Now
London – “When will LVMH make the sensible decision to move away from the dangerous and cruel trade in the skins of minks, alligators, foxes, and pythons and invest in the future?” This is the question submitted by PETA US, which has been an LVMH shareholder since 2017, ahead of the fashion group’s general meeting on Thursday, 15 April. PETA US reminds LVMH executives that numerous brands, including Chanel, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger, have committed to a ban on fur and exotic skins – a socially responsible decision which spares billions of sentient individuals suffering and helps safeguard public health.
“LVMH’s obstinacy in continuing to support the unsanitary confinement of stressed and sick animals and slaughtered them in appalling conditions for their skins puts public health at risk,” says PETA Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA is calling on LVMH to eliminate the risk that its crocodile bags and fur coats pose to public health and stop perpetuating animal suffering by joining the long list of fashion houses that have moved away from fur and exotic skins.”
PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”, notes that the fur industry is directly involved in the spread of the novel coronavirus. Outbreaks have been recorded on fur farms in Canada, Denmark – where a variant of the disease in minks has infected humans – France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United States, resulting in the emergency slaughter of millions of animals. Other species bred for their fur – such as foxes and raccoon dogs – can also be infected with coronaviruses. And experts warn that farms exploiting animals for “luxury” accessories are breeding grounds for pathogens, increasing the risk of future pandemics.
Last month, PETA US wrote to Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, to inform him of a brand-new exposé showing snakes being inflated to death with compressed air and crocodiles being electrocuted, trampled, and stabbed while presumably still conscious, common practices in the exotic-skins trade.
The full text of the question submitted by PETA US to LVMH is available here. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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