Fashion giant French Connection has today committed to a ban on angora after receiving more than 100,000 emails from PETA supporters.
Last December the animal rights organisation obtained shocking footage of rabbits used in the Chinese angora fur industry, where 90% of the world’s angora fur come from, showing workers violently ripping the fur from the animals’ skin as they scream in pain.
PETA UK Director Mimi Bekhechi said she was thrilled that French Connection had decided to ban the material in its products.
She said: “We are delighted that French Connection has listened to its customers and joined ASOS, Calvin Klein, AllSaints, Stella McCartney, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango and numerous other global fashion retailers by committing to a permanent ban on vile angora wool.
“Shoppers now know that if a label says ‘angora’, it means that defenceless rabbits were subjected to having the fur ripped out of their bodies or were suspended in the air as sharp clippers cut into their sensitive skin.
“Any cruel designers who continue to use this product of rabbit torture can expect to see their profits nose-dive and shoppers head for the door.”
PETA unprecedented investigation in Asia revealed that rabbits who have their fur cut or sheared also suffer greatly during the cutting process.
Their front and back legs are tightly tethered so that they can be stretched out over a board – a terrifying experience for any prey animal while others are suspended in the air by their forelimbs.
Rabbits have very thin skin, and the sharp cutting tools invariably wound them as they struggle desperately to escape.
The angora farming industry also condemns these animals to spend years in isolation in small, filthy wire cages that cut into their sensitive paws and prevent them from carrying out normal behaviour, including exercising and interacting with other rabbits.
Pictures and video footage courtesy of PETA UK, with thanks
