The Daily Mail recently (16th March) allowed journalist Sarah Vine (wife of environment minister Michael Gove) a personal platform to advocate the wearing of real fur, referencing, with photographs, the Cheltenham races. In the article, a two page spread, she refers to people who are opposed to the fur trade (and hence the appalling cruelty and suffering inflicted on animals) as the 'PC brigade', and the 'animal rights mob'. She claims, in justification, that the animals are killed in any case, eg. for food. But, in China for example, animals are caught/farmed only for their fur. They are skinned, often when alive, and thrown onto bleeding and rotting heaps, to die in untold agony. Animals, such as fox, mink, and racoon, are either caught from the wild, or farmed in hellish conditions, for their fur, not for food. Dogs can suffer the same fate, as their coats are often sold on, and unsuspectingly bought, as fur from another animal. Sarah Vine in her article admits that the industry could be better regulated. However, as the UK Parliament banned fur farms here years ago (on the grounds of public morality) fur is imported, mainly from China and other Asian countries. Sarah Vine should note that there are no penalties for abusing animals on fur farms in China (the world's largest fur exporter), nor is there ever likely to be.
Good news reporting and journalism should provide an unbiased and balanced view on the topics being covered, providing both sides of the coin so to speak. Sarah Vine's article is bias, not balanced, not news, and certainly cannot be considered journalism in any sense of the word. The Daily Mail provided her a personal platform to publish her own opinion and appraisal on the wearing of real fur. One reason she gives to advocate real fur is that it so flatters the wearer, and was delighted to see it being flaunted at the races.
This petition is to help me demand that the Daily Mail offers a two page spread to an established animal welfare organisation, to give them an opportunity to present the other side of the coin - to detail, with images, the obscene cruelty and suffering that is the real and disturbing cost. If the Daily Mail refuses, then you might take it they also are pro real fur, and that their crusades, such as addressing plastics in the oceans which is killing animals, are all but a front to sell newspapers.
See full article at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-5507631/SARAH-VINE-controversially-welcomes-return-fur-Cheltenham.htm
