Photos: ‘Bloodied Snake’ Shocks Diners as PETA Pushes Prada to Shed Cruel Reptile Skins

Photos: ‘Bloodied Snake’ Shocks Diners as PETA Pushes Prada to Shed Cruel Reptile Skins

London – Guests and staff at the Prada Caffè in Harrods got a slithery surprise today when a PETA supporter dressed as a snake stood in the middle of the store and drenched her neck in “blood” to call out the brand for killing and skinning reptiles to make handbags. The animal ally shouted, “Shame on Prada, drop wild-animal skins,” while being escorted out by security.

Photos are available here, and video footage is available here.

“Snakes and other reptiles feel pain and fear just like humans, and don’t want to be bashed over the head and chopped to pieces,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA is calling on Prada to follow the lead of luxury brands like Victoria Beckham and Chanel and shed cruel reptile skins from its collections.”

PETA entities have documented rampant cruelty at slaughterhouses that supply animal skin to the fashion industry – including workers inflating live snakes with water, bashing them with hammers, and cutting them with razors; hacking at crocodiles’ necks and shoving metal rods down their spines; and chopping live lizards’ heads off with machetes.

A growing list of top designers – including Burberry, Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Jean Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabanne, Victoria Beckham, and Vivienne Westwood – have banned the use of reptiles’ skins from their collections, and many more are offering vegan leather options made from pineapples, mushrooms, apples, cacti, and other innovative materials.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA UK on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

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

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