Fwd: Fashion dictates pythons be killed for clutch bags

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1 Oct 2007 22:27

Fashion dictates pythons be killed for clutch bags

Kerbear <kerbear2

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=484972 & i\

n_page_id=1879

 

 

Frenzy for python skin splits fashion world

Demand for snakeskin is pushing some species to extinction

 

Last updated at 10:14am on 1st October 2007 Animal rights campaigners are

furious about this season's fashion trend

for python skin.

 

Designer labels including Jimmy Choo, Calvin Klein, Prada, Fendi, Roberto

Cavalli and YSL have all used snakeskin for bags and shoes this year.

 

Since Kylie Minogue was photographed at a Prince concert last week sporting

a python Zagliani bag, demand has risen for the bags costing from £500 for a

small clutch to £5,000 totes.

 

The trend was today condemned by campaigners. Poorva Joshipura, a

spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: " A python

has a hose shoved down its throat, is blown up with water then skinned

alive. Then it's tossed onto a pile and is left, sometimes for

days, before it dies. The trade is pushing many species towards

extinction and the endangered species of tomorrow can be seen in the luxury

shops of today. "

 

The European Union is the world's biggest importer of reptile skins.

Between 2000 and 2005, 3.4 million lizards, 2.9 million crocodiles and

3.4million snakeskins were brought in. Designers claim to use skins

from

" farmed " pythons, but experts warn there is a thriving illegal trade,

especially in India and Indonesia.

 

Zagliani designer Mauro Orietti-Carella said: " Zagliani was founded 70 years

ago as a company that specialised in exotic skins bags. We are not following

a fashion moment. We do not make as much as the market demands

because we are concerned about the use of too many skins, and will only work

in an ethical and environmentally responsible way. "

--

KB

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SAVE THE CAPE FUR SEALS http://namibia2007.wordpress.com/

 

We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our

distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were

able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.

~William Ralph Inge