Not-So-Silent Auction: PETA Member Protests Reptile-Skin Bags at Christie’s

For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2015

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

This afternoon, a PETA member interrupted an auction of Hermès reptile-skin handbags at Christie’s, telling the shocked audience of bidders that alligators killed for their skin are dismembered and skinned while they’re still alive. After she spoke, she was escorted from the room and ejected from the building by security.

The following statement is from PETA member and Manhattan resident Jannette Patterson:

I spoke up today to let people know that there’s a lifetime of misery and a violent death behind every crocodile or alligator Birkin and Kelly bag. A PETA investigation showed these intelligent animals being skinned alive, and there’s no excuse for this kind of cruelty. The biggest price paid for these bags is the price the animals paid with their lives, suffering and dying in agony. I’m proud of my beautiful non-leather bags, which show that compassion is beautiful.

Earlier this year, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—exposed that reptiles at a Texas farm that sends skins to an Hermès-owned tannery were still writhing minutes after their necks had been sawed open with a knife or box cutter in a crude effort to slaughter them.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.