Bodypainted, Nude L.A. Woman in PETA France’s Paris Olympics Protest Against Cruelty to Animals

For Immediate Release:
July 22, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Today in Paris, ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, Los Angeles resident Sarah Segal joined more than a dozen other PETA France supporters—each bodypainted as a different nation’s flag—to draw attention to the suffering and slaughter of animals used for fur, leather, and feathers. With her nude body painted to resemble the Stars and Stripes as she held a sign that read, “United Against Cruelty to Animals,” on one side and “No Leather, Feathers, or Fur!” on the other, Segal and other animal advocates made a head-turning display in Paris’ Place de la République. Photos and video of the demonstration are available here.

Credit: Sarah Segal (left) and Clothilde Tierce (right)

“The Olympic Games are about solidarity and peace, which makes Paris the perfect place for PETA France to remind everyone that killing animals for their skin is a cruel and grave injustice,” says Segal. “With all eyes on the fashion capital of the world, we’re drawing attention to the violence inherent in stealing fur, skin, feathers, and wool from animals.”

Animals raised and killed for fur spend their entire lives confined to tiny, filthy wire cages before they’re electrocuted, bludgeoned, gassed, or even skinned alive. In the leather industry, more than 1 billion animals each year endure hellish conditions on crowded feedlots before their throats are slit in slaughterhouses. Meanwhile, birds exploited for their down and feathers are denied everything that’s natural and important to them in the meat and foie gras industries and repeatedly and painfully plucked alive—severely wounding their delicate skin—before they’re killed.

As Paris is in the global spotlight in the run-up to the Olympic Games, PETA France has held other actions for animals, such as denouncing Olympic sponsor and luxury fashion house LVMH’s use of wild animals’ skin by projecting a provocative video across some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Place Vendôme during an Olympics-themed Vogue World fashion show.

Segal, a West Los Angeles–based dog groomer, has been a steadfast animal advocate for 15 years and has taken part in lively demonstrations against the exploitation of animals, including at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (which later ended the use of nonconsenting animals following pressure from PETA) and SeaWorld and in slaughterhouses and the horse racing industry. Earlier this month, she was among the group of PETA supporters who converged upon the Hollywood premiere of Twisters to blast filmmakers for forcing animals to perform in distressing scenes that glorify rodeos.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.