PETA Responds to Polar Vortex by Giving Donated Furs to the Homeless

Only the Truly Needy Have Any Excuse for Wearing Fur, Leather, Wool, or Angora Once Taken From Animals’ Backs

For Immediate Release:
January 7, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As New York faces record-setting frigid temperatures, PETA will distribute 50 fur coats as well as leather jackets, wool scarves, and angora sweaters—donated by those who have moved on to garments whose production didn’t involve cruelty to animals—to people leaving the breakfast soup kitchen at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Wednesday morning.

When:   Wednesday, January 8, 8 a.m.

Where:  Outside the soup kitchen at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 325 Park Ave., New York

“PETA can’t bring back the animals who were killed for clothing, but thanks to PETA donors who have turned their back on such cruelty, we can send a message that only people truly struggling to survive have any excuse for wearing fur, leather, or angora,” PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk says. “We invite anyone who has had a change of heart to donate furs to help the truly needy endure this frigid winter.”

For every cuff, collar, piece of trim, or coat made from real fur, animals were electrocuted, bludgeoned, strangled, or even skinned alive. Cows killed for leather endure frightening transport in all types of weather to slaughterhouses where they are hung upside down and have their throats slit, lambs used for wool from Australia have large chunks of skin and flesh cut from their backsides in a crude attempt to prevent maggot infestation, and rabbits used for angora scream as their fur is ripped from their skin. For these reasons, many people—including celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Wendy Williams, Kim Cattrall, and Sharon Osbourne—have chosen to donate their animal-skin coats to PETA for use in educational displays, to supply bedding for orphaned animals, or to be given to needy people.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.