Naked, Body-Painted ‘Snakes’ Ask Shoppers To Leave Wildlife Out Of Their Wardrobes

For Immediate Release:
7 October 2009

Contact:
Sam Glover 020 7357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

London – Lying on the Eros Statue steps at Piccadilly Circus in London today with
their naked bodies painted to look like snakes and lizards, members of People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) urged shoppers to scratch exotic-animal
skins off their personal and holiday shopping lists. Their signs read, “Don’t Kill
Us for Our Skins”. PETA wants shoppers to remember that wild animals belong in the
wild – not cut up in factories to make shoes, belts and bags – and that buying
alternatives to exotic-animal skins is a lot easier on the pocketbook and the
conscience.

Ranched alligators are kept in tiny structures, and farmers sometimes confine as many as 600 of them to one building. The animals are frequently beaten with hammers before they are skinned, and it can take up to two hours for them to die. Snakes are commonly nailed to a tree and then skinned alive. It is estimated that as many as 90 per cent of snakeskin used for fashion could be from animals who are caught in the wild.

“I’ll gladly bare my skin to help save animals’ skins”, says PETA naked “animal” Victoria Eisermann. “We’re asking shoppers to choose compassion over cruelty by giving snakeskin and other exotic leather the boot.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.