PETA Teams Up With ‘Life for Relief and Development’ to Give Unwanted Fur Coats to Those in Need

To help orphans, widows, and others in need get through long, cold winters in Afghanistan, PETA has teamed up with Life for Relief and Development to distribute over 80 fur coats – all donated to PETA’s fur amnesty programme by people who have had a change of heart about the ethics of wearing the animal-derived material.

We can’t bring back the minks, rabbits, and other animals who were cruelly killed for fashion, but we can give their fur to people in need.

Fur Coats Are Out of Style

The fur industry is cruel, barbaric, and unnecessary. Millions of animals suffer and are brutally killed every year for nothing more than bobble hats, key rings, and fur trim. The vast majority of Brits (95%) refuse to wear fur, more and more designers are no longer working with it, and even Her Majesty the Queen has dropped it from her wardrobe.

Jo-Anne McArthur / #MakeFurHistory

There’s no kind way to produce fur items. As numerous PETA exposés of fur farms have revealed, minks, foxes, raccoons, and many other animals who are farmed for their fur spend their entire lives being driven insane by confinement to cramped, filthy wire cages. Neglected and often left suffering from untreated injuries and infections, they’re finally beaten to death, electrocuted, gassed, or skinned alive.

The Last Thing We Need Is Another Pandemic

Fur farms are a public health risk, too. When it comes to the risk of disease, they’re no different from the live-animal market in which the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated.

When stressed animals are confined next to each other in filthy conditions, disease spreads easily between them and to humans. Animals with infections, sores, and festering, open wounds are a common sight on fur farms. Fur farmers and handlers are among those who most commonly suffer from the zoonotic bacterial disease tularaemia.

What’s more, because minks are particularly susceptible to respiratory illnesses, mink farms around the world have proven to be dangerous breeding grounds for disease and have been identified as COVID-19 hotspots. A Danish mink farm gave rise to a mutated version of the virus that spread from the animals to farm workers and the local community.

Cleanse Your Wardrobe and Make a Fur Coat Donation

The best thing you can do for animals exploited on fur farms is to leave fur out of your wardrobe. However, if you happen to have some in there, we’ll take it off your hands and our Fur Amnesty Programme will make sure it’s put to better use.

Donate Your Furs

Support a #FurFreeBritain

Even though fur farming has been banned in the UK for almost 20 years, fur is still imported for sale in stores nationwide, perpetuating animal suffering. Now is the time for action. As the UK has left the EU, a ban on fur imports is no longer prohibited by EU trade regulations, and implementing one is essential to ending cruelty to animals.

In the 2021 Queen’s Speech, the government outlined ambitious plans to bring forward new legislation to “ensure the United Kingdom has, and promotes, the highest standards of animal welfare”. This goal is expanded upon in the government’s “Action Plan for Animal Welfare”, which includes a commitment to exploring a ban on fur imports.

We must ensure the government follows through with meaningful steps towards introducing such a ban. Sign our petition to show your support for a #FurFreeBritain: