Animal & Wildlife Welfare, Crime & Abuses to report the week include the Dumbasses of the week, Chanel Will No Longer Use Fur and Exotic Animal Skins, Dog Skins, Abuse in Cambodia's Meat / Leather Industry, Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo, in Skopje.Macedonia & messages from Ingrid E Newkirk & Actors Mark Rylance & Gregg Sulkin and much more to report!!

In the past year, many popular fashion brands have decided to take a more ethical approach to making their products. 

Coach, Georgio Armani, Gucci, Michael Kors, Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein have all stopped using fur. The realization that fur is cruel and unnecessary is not limited to fashion houses. Luxembourg banned fur farming and San Francisco banned the sale of fur. It is becoming increasingly obvious that using animal-derived materials for fashion is outdated. The latest company to take a step in the right direction is Chanel.

In the past, Chanel’s clothing and accessories were made with exotic animal skins from crocodiles, snakes, and lizards, as well as fur. A spokeswoman from Chanel told CNN, “it is becoming increasingly difficult to source exotic skins which match our ethical standards.” Certainly, Chanel felt pressure from animal rights activists, as well as wanting to stay trending and in style. As more people become aware of the animal cruelty involved in fashion, more companies will continue do the same. Each time they make a change, it is a victory for animals!

In the words of Stella McCartney, whose fashion products use do not use real fur or leather, “Real fur is extraordinarily old-fashioned. It’s not relevant, it’s not sexy, it’s not fashionable, and it’s not cool.” To learn more about animal cruelty in fashion, check out our list of the 5 Worst Ways Animals Are Exploited in the Fashion Industry.

Buy These Vegan-Friendly Fashion Choices

1. B Brentano Vegan Multi-Zipper Crossbody Handbag
Vegan purse
Source: B Brentano Vegan Crossbody Handbag

This pretty vegan crossbody handbag by B Brentano costs $17.95.

2. KIKOY Faux Fur Winter Jacket
Pink faux fur coat
Source: KIKOY Faux Fur Winter Jacket

This Faux Fur Winter Jacket is available in many colors and costs between $15.99 and $23.99.

3. LifeStride Women’s Xripley Riding Boot
Vegan boots for women
Source: LifeStride Women’s Xripley Riding Boot

These riding boots are 100 percent man made and cost between $44.99 and $121.93 depending on the size.

We hope you choose vegan-friendly and cruelty-free choices the next time you shop. If you enjoy stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter and receive them right in your inbox!
Image result for dr. juan a. rivero zoo
Next, Puerto Rico's zoo remains closed more than a year after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. 

Locked away from public view, the zoo's animals are suffering and dying from inadequate care. Felipe the Rhino and two pumas have already died. If you want to help save Puerto Rico's forgotten zoo animals, sign and share today.

As Hurricane Maria violently struck Puerto Rico, frightened zoo animals cowered in their enclosures as the rain and wind beat down. The dilapidated Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo was unprepared for the hurricane and its destructive aftermath.  

And more than a year after the hurricane, Puerto Rico and the zoo are still forgotten. It never re-opened to the public after Hurricanes Irma and Maria and without adequate resources animals are starving and dying. Two pumas just died, and it is reported that Felipe the Rhino is limping after inadequate medical care, and the zoo’s chimpanzees are malnourished.  

Sign and share today to urge Puerto Rico to shut down this negligent zoo and immediately retire the zoo animals to sanctuaries.  

After a 12-year long recession and Maria’s destruction, activists concerns have finally prompted a government investigation into the recent deaths. Puerto Rico is still recovering, but with no designated government support, this zoo is a death sentence for the animals locked inside.

To save these suffering animals, we must apply pressure to urge Puerto Rico to shut down the zoo and allow the animals to retire to sanctuaries. Sign today to add your support.

Dumbasses of the week goes to "this group of overgrown boys killed This Magnificent creature in an effort to make their dicks feel bigger. What a pathetic bunch of freaks. Go fight this thing without a gun, and if it doesn't make you into cat food you might have something to brag about you pussies!" (Tracey Connell)
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We have discovered terrible animal abuse in the Balkan country of Macedonia. Heartless workers take old dogs and puppies and illegally slaughter them to save money at the country’s only shelter in Skopje.
And the authorities know all about this and do nothing to stop it. 

The Vardariste animal facility, – it’s too kind to call it a shelter is a place of great cruelty and death.
The dogs sleep on wet floors in their own faeces.
In winter they suffer from frostbite. Almost all puppies
taken there die of disease or are slaughtered.
By law, Vardariste is supposed to catch, neuter and release street dogs.  Instead, sick, elderly or needy dogs mysteriously vanish overnight, victims of callous, arbitrary killing.

Disease is rife at the facility and dogs who were healthy when they were taken there frequently end up diseased, emaciated and targeted for death.
Each year hundreds and hundreds of dogs
are needlessly executed. Animal welfare organizations
are banned from inspecting the shelter.
Although charges of abuse, neglect and inhumane killing have been laid against workers at the facility, the accused are still working and allowed to handle dogs.

Before he was elected, Petre Shilegov, Skopje’s mayor, promised to fix things if he won.He’s done nothing.
dogs killed for their skin

Dogs Killed for Their Skin. Terrified dogs are being skinned for fashion accessories. Please help out now.

act now for Django

They Want to Exploit Django the Monkey in Stressful, Dangerous Public Display. Carting monkeys around to events and subjecting them to a constant barrage of strange noises and disruptive activity while humans touch them is anything but merry—it's a subtly disguised spectacle of animal abuse. The organizers of the "Dickens of a Christmas" event in Maryland plan to exploit Django on December 8 and 9, despite knowing that public displays are not only stressful to animals but also dangerous to the public. Contact the Organizers.

help greyhounds

Meet the Dogs Kept in Cages So Their Blood Could Be Repeatedly Drained and Sold. A PETA eyewitness investigation revealed that the canine blood bank Hemopet keeps around 200 dogs inside tiny crates and barren, rusty kennels for about 23 hours every day. These greyhounds—who, like all dogs, are eager to run and play and long for companionship—are reduced to being bled for cash. Take Action.

meat and leather industry

BREAKING: Cows Bludgeoned With Sledgehammers for Meat and Leather. PETA Asia has obtained disturbing eyewitness video footage captured inside a Cambodian slaughterhouse showing workers repeatedly bashing cows in the head with sledgehammers before finally cutting their throats while they're still conscious. Their skin is then cut off to be sold by the global leather industry. Take action now!

Will you help chickens, cows, and other animals this Christmas?
Donate Now

Imagine condemning babies to death simply because they're male. The cruel dairy and egg industries do just that – dooming millions of male calves and chicks every year to a gruesome, terrifying death.
Looking into the bright eyes of male calves, it's hard to understand how they can be treated so harshly. Shortly after birth, these gentle beings are torn away from their distraught mothers and violently killed – all because they can't produce milk.
Fluffy male chicks are beautiful, but since the egg industry considers them to be useless, they soon meet an ugly end. It's common for the tiny birds to be ground up, crushed, or suffocated.
The cruelty isn't limited to male animals. A female calf will commonly be confined in miserable conditions until she's old enough to enter the relentless cycle of forced pregnancy, separation from her own calves, and excessive milk production. A hen exploited for her eggs will typically spend her days packed in among thousands of others in a vast warehouse, her wings wasting away from disuse and her feet becoming deformed from standing on the wire flooring of a cage.
When animals cease to produce enough milk or eggs to be profitable, they, too, face a grisly end at an abattoir.
Thanks to support from kind people like you, we're driving down the demand for meat, eggs, dairy "products", and other cruelly produced items. PETA's eye-opening exposés and hard-hitting campaigns are inspiring many to leave all animals off their plates, and every year, we distribute thousands of copies of our popular vegan starter kit to help diners embrace a more compassionate way of eating. We're also urging more restaurants and companies than ever to offer delicious vegan options.
Thank you for your compassion and generosity.
Kind regards,

Ingrid E Newkirk
Founder

In Defense of Animals
Urge California to Ban Cruel and Toxic Poisons Now! Wild animals in California are poised for a huge breakthrough, but they need your help to achieve it. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) will review laws that permit pesticide companies to use tortuous and dangerous poisons that kill rats and mice as well as any other animals who then have the misfortune to eat their bodies. We must ban these deadly rodenticide poisons for good! TAKE ACTION
In Defense of Animals
URGENT! Only the Senate Can Save Tule Elks from Shooting & Extinction! The fate of California's Tule elks are in jeopardy! The U.S. Senate will soon vote on a bill that would kill Tule elks in their natural habit to make even more room for the greed of dairy and cattle ranchers. If this bill is passed, all the vulnerable elks who comprise this rare species will die. Please urge the Senate to reject H.R. 6687 now to save Tule elks! TAKE ACTION
In Defense of Animals
New Coalition Works to Strengthen Animal Cruelty Laws. In response to extremely lenient sentences for crimes involving animals, efforts are now underway to strengthen Louisiana's animal cruelty laws. In Defense of Animals' Justice for Animals Campaign is working with a new coalition to develop much-needed changes on behalf of animals. READ MORE
Protect Endangered Tigers