Giant ‘Ostrich’ to Protest In Front of Prada Flagship Store

PETA Will Reveal How Birds Are Hit, Shocked, Killed, Plucked, and Skinned for Store’s Ostrich-Leather Bags and Couches

For Immediate Release:
March 9, 2016

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

This ostrich wants his skin back. PETA’s life-size “ostrich” will stand guard outside of Prada’s New York flagship store on Thursday with a sign proclaiming, “Get Your Head out of the Sand: Don’t Buy Exotic Skins,” as three PETA members kneel on the ground with their heads “buried” inside faux-ostrich handbags filled with sand.

When:             Thursday, March 10, 12 p.m.

Where:           Prada, 575 Broadway, New York

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—recently released the first-ever exposé of the highly secretive ostrich-slaughter industry, in which young ostriches are kept in barren dirt feedlots until they are trucked to slaughterhouses. There, the 1-year-old ostriches are turned upside down in a stunner, are ejected to have their throats slit, and have their feathers plucked out, creating the bumpy-textured skin used in Prada’s handbags and store sofas.

“Every ostrich-leather bag and sofa in Prada’s stores means that smart, sensitive, and curious young birds were shocked, slaughtered, plucked, and skinned,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on shoppers to steer clear of Prada’s pockmarked purses and choose instead from the many stylish cruelty-free accessories available from kinder retailers.”

Broadcast-quality video footage from PETA’s investigation is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.