OSLO: OUTRAGED PEOPLE HOLD ‘DIE-IN’ OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT

‘Bloodied’ PETA and NOAH Members Want Plans for Massive Fur-
Farming Complex in Norway Cancelled

For Immediate Release:
19 April 2005

Contact:
Poorva Joshipura +44 (0)20 7357 9229, ext. 229
  
Oslo – Draped in fur and scattered on the ground as if “dead”, “bloodied” members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Europe and NOAH will urge the government to cancel plans for a massive mink-fur-farming complex in Hå. In the middle of the bloody bodies, one fur-covered activist will sit in a cage to demonstrate the plight of real animals used for fur. The activists will use fur coats donated by consumers who have learned about the cruelty of the fur industry and no longer wear fur. The Rogaland complex, which would be the largest in Norway, would confine more than 110,000 animals:

Date: Wednesday, 20 April
Time: 1 p.m. sharp
Place: Eidsvollsplass

The world has looked on in horror as fur farmers seek government support for the fur-farming complex, despite the fact that the majority of Norwegians are against fur farming and that a Norwegian court has ruled that fur farming is unethical. Fur farming has already been outlawed in the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland.

Minks in the wild love to swim and are often found near water. Minks are generally territorial and solitary and travel long distances, sometimes using the dens of other animals as “hotel pit stops.”

Fur farms deprive these inquisitive, active animals of all that is natural to them. Cramped wire cages prevent minks from fulfilling their innate desire to roam, and factory-farmed minks are often seen bobbing their heads and pacing frantically in their dirty cages – disturbing, repetitive behaviour that is a sign of severe psychological distress.

On fur farms, animals spend their lives in tiny, filthy cages, where they often go mad before being killed. Killing methods include poisoning, gassing, anal electrocution or neck-breaking.

“The blood used in our demonstration is fake, but the suffering and deaths of animals used for fur is real”, says PETA Europe Campaign Coordinator Poorva Joshipura. “We beseech the government to consider the sentiment of most Norwegians and stop plans for the fur-farming complex that would mean torture and death for countless animals.”

For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site FurIsDead.com.

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