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A petition urging Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton to ban exotic animal skins has exceeded 36,000 signatures.
Animal-rights charity PETA, who created the petition, recently warned raising exotic animals for fashion ‘could spark the next pandemic’.
A ‘major breeding ground’
“Many alligators and crocodiles who are raised on farms for their skin are kept crowded together in highly unhygienic conditions, one on top of the other in pens of putrid water,” the organization wrote.
“This creates a potentially serious major breeding ground for many zoonotic pathogens (causative agents of diseases that can spread from other animals to humans), including salmonella, vibrio, Aeromonas spp., Pseudomonas spp., E. coli, trichinella, West Nile virus, and others—all of which crocodilians have been found to carry and potentially pass on to humans.”
Exotic animal skins
A slew of fashion houses have already ditched exotic animal skins from their collections, including Mulberry, Diane von Furstenberg, Paul Smith, Victoria Beckham, Vivienne Westwood, and most recently, Karl Lagerfeld.
“Karl Lagerfeld has taken a business-savvy step by discontinuing the use of skins stolen from wild animals, and the company may just save some human lives in the process,” PETA director of corporate projects, Yvonne Taylor, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“Kind shoppers can do their part by opting for the latest fashions in vegan clothing and accessories, knowing that no animal was killed for them.”
You can sign the petition here
