People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has never been a fan of Victoria Beckham’s best selling handbag line, and now the animal rights group is taking another swipe. It claims that the crocodiles used to make Beckham’s £18, 000 ‘superbag’ were not treated humanely.
“PETA pledges to eat its own cloth hat if the animals skinned to make Victoria Beckham’s bags are humanely or ethically treated,” a spokesperson for the animal rights group said.
However, Mrs Beckham’s press agents say all animals used were “ethically sourced” from American farms, and then treated within “strict ethical guidelines,” as specified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
However, operating within ethical guidelines isn’t always cruelty free. Farmers are allowed to keeps hens in battery cages and pigs in confining sow stalls under industry guidelines, but animal lovers still frown upon these practices. PETA claims that most fashion labels, including Victoria Beckham’s, slaughter crocodiles and alligators by driving long steel chisels into the neck to sever the spinal cord. If it all goes according to plan this is quick and humane. However often it’s not, and the reptiles survive for up to two hours after they’re skinned. If this is what’s happening, it makes that crocodile bag a lot less appealing.
Then again, we all know that PETA takes a really hard line against the use of exotic skins. Even if the Beckham camp was doing the “right thing,” I doubt the animal activists would see it that way. Whose side are you on?
