PETA Stages Center City Protest Against Angora Rabbit Wool Production
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A demonstration today in center city by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was designed to prompt shoppers this holiday season to consider not buying angora sweaters.
On a sidewalk at 10th and Market Streets, PETA spokeswoman Ashley Byrne said that angora rabbits endure horrifying pain as factory workers mistreat them to produce fabric for the fashion industry.
"A PETA Asia investigator found rabbits being repeatedly throughout their lives stretched out and tied down and having their fur yanked out by the fistful while they are fully conscious," Byrne (far right in photo) said.
PETA says 90 percent of the world's angora fur is sourced from China.
Byrne passed along information to passersby. One woman, who was looking to buy angora wool as a Christmas present, saw an animal rights activist on a folding table, bound and dressed up in a bunny suit with patches of its coat missing.
"Don't buy angora. I don't want angora. I'm glad I know now. This is eye-opening and so sad," she said a moment later.
PETA says some retailers, including H & M and Esprit, have suspended their angora production while they look into the situation.
