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You may remember not so long ago we shared the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) video, encouraging fashion outlets across the UK and US to stop selling angora fur products in their stores. The terrifyingly disturbing footage – shot by PETA Asia – shows innocent angora rabbits in China having their precious fur being literally torn from their skin. The defenseless animals are then thrown back into their dingy cages only to endure this horrific treatment over and over again. According to PETA, the rabbits are stripped (or should I say ripped) of their fur every three months for up to five years, they are then hung upside down and their throats are slit.
Image courtesy of PETA
The video, which instantly went viral, was broadcast along with a petition form addressed to Gap Inc. CEO Glenn K. Murphy – who had previously ignored PETA’s last request to drop angora – urging him to immediately stop the sale of angora products in his stores. As it seemed that while other stores such as H&M, Next, and Marks and Spencer banned the sale of any angora products, high street chains ZARA and Gap shockingly refused to budge. Finally on the 18th December last year Gap sent out a tweet stating that they were “suspending placement of orders using angora” explaining that the brand takes “animal welfare very seriously”.
Image courtesy of PETA
So as a firm believer of the cause you can imagine my shock and surprise when a few weeks later on Christmas day I opened a very unwanted gift. None other than a woolen angora jumper from Gap complete with a tag boasting its use of twenty percent angora rabbit hair. In my mum’s defense the unfortunate present had been wrapped and under our tree long before the scandal was revealed but nevertheless it was most definitely a gift that I could not accept. Unfolding the grey V neck jumper and touching the soft texture all I could envision was the inhumane torture of hundreds or maybe even thousands of defenseless angora rabbits – I could barely look at the garment let alone wear it.
And while I would like to end this post on a happy note, claiming that all the high street stores involved had learned the error of their ways, that is unfortunately not the case. After signing PETA’s petition I was then placed on their mailing list only to receive an email last night claiming that Gap are continuing to sell items made with angora. So whether this is true information or not I urge you to follow this link. Witness this atrocity with your own eyes and then please do whatever you can to support the cause.
By Jenna Jones
