Activists worldwide protest against fur in fashion

Animal rights activists in the United States, Canada and England protested on Saturday against killing animals for fashion.

Protestors in Boston, Los Angles, New York City, Washington, Portland, Toronto and London walked the streets for the International Anti-Fur March. They want the suffering of millions of animals used for fashion to end.

In Toronto, a man walked the street fully covered in fake blood, and protestors held signs saying ‘Your fur had a face’, ‘Animals need their fur, you don’t’ and ‘It’s not fashion, it’s violence’.

‘Animals are not fabrics’ and ‘Wear clothes and not animals’ was written on the signs of protestors in London. “The protest started on Bond Street with the rabbit killers, Dolce and Gabbana, then progressed to mink, fox and rabbit murderers Max Mara,” Fur Free London said in a Facebook post.

“We had a monster mobile billboard featuring all the horrific methods that are used to kill and torture animals for their fur,” animal rights activist and organizer Rachel Levy Ejsmont told The Animal Reader about the march in New York City, where over a hundred people marched through the famous shopping street Fifth Avenue.

“We also poured blood outside of the stores that we’ve been targeting, that refuse to go fur-free,” she added.

Many fashion brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen have announced not to use fur in their upcoming collections.

Two weeks ago, Saint Laurent also said that they would stop using fur in its collection. François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Saint Laurent’s parent company Kering, said that the world and their clients had changed and that “luxury naturally needs to adapt to that”.

But brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Fendi are still exploiting animals for their fur.

According to animal welfare organization Four Paws, over 100 million animals die each year for fur used in fashion.

Most fur comes from farms in China and Europe, where mink, racoon dogs, chinchillas, foxes and other animals are kept from birth in tiny wired cages and are killed before they’re one year old.

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