'No ostrich skin bags!'

Members of animal welfare groups CARE and PETAasis hold a rally to protest sales of ostrich leather handbags by luxury brand Prada in front of a Prada store in the posh Gangnam district in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Lee Kyung-min

A half-naked animal rights activist protesting in Seoul on Wednesday called for luxury fashion brand Prada to drop ostrich skin from its product material list.

Ashley Fruno, Asia-Pacific regional manager of international operations for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), stood in lingerie with “Skin Is Skin” written on her torso, during a protest in front of a Prada shop in Apgujeong, southern Seoul.

Members of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) also joined the protest, holding signs reading “Shop Vegan.”

“We are asking Prada to act like a real leader in the animal welfare industry, as they are leaders in the fashion industry, and raise the bar on animal welfare,” she said.

“We are asking them to drop the ostrich skin from their lines.”

The groups’ protest follows footage obtained by U.S. PETA members last year showing cruel treatment at some of the world’s biggest ostrich slaughterhouses in South Africa.

In the video, ostriches were hit and plucked while alive and fully conscious, in order to create the bumpy texture considered highly fashionable.

It also showed the birds slipping and falling as they watched their mates ahead of them being killed.

Luxury brands Prada and Hermes were the biggest clients of the slaughter firms which account for the majority of the world’s ostrich skin products, according to PETA. Their products include watchbands, boots, wallets and belts, with Hermes’ Birkin bag being sold for up to $150,000.

Fruno said raising awareness is important because people simply do not know that so much animal cruelty is involved in making such expensive bags.

“People ― not just in Korea, but all over the world ― simply don’t know that behind every ostrich skin bag, an ostrich faced a lifetime of deprivation and a cruel slaughter. Once they learn about the cruelty involved, they don’t want to support it,” she said.

Fruno urged consumers to “shop vegan,” asking them to avoid purchasing wool, fur, leather and exotic skins.

“With an array of luxurious, high-end vegan materials available, there’s simply no justification to support this cruelty,” she said. "Animals are not ours to wear."

PETA purchased a single share in Prada last month, in an attempt to influence company policy from the inside as a shareholder.

Fruno and other PETA members protested against other cases of animal cruelty in 2012, such as the practice of mulesing, a technique of removing wool-bearing skin from the rears of Merino sheep to prevent flystrike, an infection spread by insects. Merino wool had been a top-selling material for the winter clothing line of Japanese brand Uniqlo.

But following their action, Uniqlo pledged to phase out the use of wool from farms that continue to use the cruel technique.