Naked ‘Corpses’ to Lie in Coffins on Fifth Avenue

PETA Will Urge Shoppers to Drop Leather, Fur, Down, and Wool

For Immediate Release:
October 26, 2015

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

Just days ahead of Halloween, four PETA members—wearing little more than signs that read, “I Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead in Leather,” and call out fur, down, and wool—will lie in coffins at a busy intersection on Fifth Avenue. The “undead,” who will be painted like skeletons, will remind passersby that everyone can spare animals the pain of beatings, throat-slitting, and live- skinning by choosing stylish, cruelty-free clothing and accessories.

Where:           The intersection of 23^rd Street and Fifth Avenue, New York

When:             Tuesday, October 27, 12 p.m.

“Most caring people would be horrified to learn that rabbits, sheep, geese, foxes, and even dogs and cats are abused and killed for their skins, fleece, or feathers in ways that would make even Freddy Krueger shudder,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA is calling on consumers to leave animals out of their closets this fall by bundling up in warm, trendy vegan styles.”

Video footage from an exposé of China’s angora-wool industry shows that workers tear chunks of fur from rabbits’ skin as the animals scream in pain. And cows destined to be killed for leather endure painful mutilations. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—released an exposé that revealed a thriving dog-leather industry in China, in which workers club dogs and peel off their skin to make women’s dress gloves and other products that are exported around the world. And in the U.S. and Australia—the source of 90 percent of the world’s merino wool—sheep are cut, kicked, and punched by impatient shearers.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.