Push to Drop Fur and Exotic Skins Heads to LVMH’s Boardroom

“Will LVMH continue to risk public health and support extreme cruelty to animals, or will it act like an ethical and sustainable company by banning exotic skins and fur today?”

That’s the question from PETA US – which bought stock in LVMH in 2017 – that the company will have to address during its annual shareholder meeting.

The fur and exotic skins industries create breeding grounds for pathogens like the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Conservation experts warn that the practices of the exotic-skins industry increase the risk of future epidemics. Animals used by the industry are typically confined and slaughtered in filthy conditions—just as animals in “wet markets” are.

COVID-19 has already swept through fur farms, sickening minks and workers in the Netherlands, which subsequently voted to close all mink fur farms by year’s end.

As long as animals are crammed together in filthy, squalid pits, the next pandemic will be just around the corner.

For decades, PETA and its affiliates have exposed the vile practices common in the exotic-skins and fur industries. Workers cut into crocodiles while they’re still alive and thrashing in agony. Snakes are pumped full of water to loosen their skin, which is ripped off, often while they’re still conscious.

Investigators revealed that in a South Africa slaughterhouse, workers yanked feathers out of living ostriches. Recent exposés of fur farms found that minks with open wounds were forced to live alongside injured, decomposing, and dead cagemates.

Meanwhile, fur farmers bludgeon rabbits with metal pipes and electrocute chinchillas, who shriek and convulse.

Every single one of these operations is completely unjustifiable. Humanity, we can do better.

Imagine the terror animals used and killed for their skin and fur must experience when they’re held down, cut open, and slaughtered.

Sure, the alligators, snakes, minks, and other animals killed for their skin or fur may look different from humans, but when it comes to experiencing fear and pain as well as having the will to live, we’re all the same.

Crocodiles like to have fun by blowing bubbles. Snakes are intelligent and quick learners, and some cobras even “play possum” until potential threats have passed. Minks are so smart and sneaky that they’re rarely preyed upon. They even purr when they’re happy! And rabbits “binky” when life is going well.

Just like us, animals have emotions and feelings. They want to enjoy life, and they feel fear when they’re threatened.

The good news is that even before the current COVID-19 crisis, exotic skins and fur were falling out of favor. Many major designers and retailers—including Chanel, Nine West, Victoria Beckham, and Nike—have banned exotic skins from their designs, and California banned fur and certain exotic skins from being sold altogether.

A moment of your time will make a huge difference for animals used for their skin.

When you buy an animal-derived product—no matter the brand—you’re supporting an industry that subjects living, feeling beings to a miserable life and a violent death. Please join compassionate people around the globe in speaking out against this cruelty.