Human Relief Organization

Tidewater, Va. — PETA is donating more than 100 fur, leather, and wool coats and other items to Tidewater-based Human Relief Organization (HRO) which will send the donations to the Igbo people of Nigeria through HRO’s partner Igbo Common Causes. PETA collected the coats through its anti-fur campaign from former fur-wearers who’ve shunned fur after watching exposés of animals caught in steel-jaw traps and driven insane in tiny cages on fur farms. Donations have even come from celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Sharon Osbourne, and Kim Cattrall. HRO donates educational materials, medical supplies, food, and clothing to needy people throughout the world.

 

PETA also uses the donated furs, as well as leather and wool items, in library displays, anti-fur fashion shows, street theater, and other educational events aimed at convincing consumers that animals should never be fashion victims. So many unwanted furs are donated to PETA that the group has begun donating the surplus to the needy. Coats have been distributed at homeless shelters across North America and shipped to refugees in Afghanistan and war victims in Iraq, many of whom face cold winters without electricity.

 

Animals trapped for their fur suffer excruciating pain before they are bludgeoned or stomped to death by trappers. Animals raised on fur farms go insane from being confined to tiny, filthy cages in all weather extremes before they are electrocuted, poisoned, or gassed or have their necks are broken. An undercover investigation in China—now the world’s leading fur exporter—revealed that animals, including cats and dogs, are often skinned alive.

 

“We can’t bring back the animals who were killed for these fur coats,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, “but we can use them to bring warmth and comfort to the Igbo people of Nigeria.”

 

PETA’s European affiliate has made a similar donation to South Africa-based Let’s Help Africa, which will distribute the garments to farmers and herd boys living in the mountains of Lesotho.

 

Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible fur donation to PETA should call 1-800-FUR-AWAY. For more information, please visit FurIsDead.com.

 

This page has the following sub pages.

• Igbo Common Causes would like to thank PETA

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