Austin, Texas — With her naked body painted like snakeskin under a banner that reads, “Exotic Skins Belong in the Jungle–Not on Your Feet,” a PETA member will lead a protest on Tuesday urging shoppers to scratch exotic-animal skins off their shopping lists. Other activists will hold signs reading, “Whose Skin Are You In?” PETA wants shoppers to know that exotic animals are skinned alive, beaten to death, or killed for their skins in other cruel ways.
Although most of the leather sold in the U.S. comes from cows, other species–including snakes, alligators, and kangaroos–are hunted and killed specifically for their skins. Snakes are commonly nailed to trees or posts and skinned alive. Their mutilated bodies are discarded, and it sometimes takes hours for them to die. Alligators are often crammed into tiny spaces on factory farms and are beaten to death with hammers or axes. According to the Australian government code for hunting kangaroos, orphaned babies and wounded adults are to be decapitated or hit sharply on the head.
“I’ll gladly bare some of my skin if it will help save animals’ skins,” says PETA’s Ashley Byrne. “We’re asking Austin residents to take a bite out of cruelty by giving snakeskin and other exotic leather the boot.”