American Idol's Simon Cowell Is No Fan of Fur

If you're out to win Simon Cowell's vote, you better not step onto the stage wearing fur. The American Idol judge famous for being abrasive to aspiring pop stars on the hit TV show has put his compassionate side in the spotlight with this recent campaign.

Cowell is informing consumers that every bit of fur in coats, collars, and cuffs means that animals have been cruelly trapped, drowned, or beaten to death in the wild or gassed, strangled, or electrocuted on fur farms. PETA's recent undercover investigation into the Chinese dog and cat fur trade showed that these horrors have been extended to animals who are often considered to be companion animals.

Cat and dog fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores. China supplies more than half the finished fur garments that are imported for sale in the United States, so the bottom line is this: Because cat and dog fur is mislabeled so often, if you're buying fur, there's no way to tell whose skin you're wearing.

PETA went into an animal market in Southern China and found that cats and dogs were languishing in tiny cages, visibly exhausted. Some had been on the road for days, transported in flimsy wire-mesh cages with no food or water. Up to 20 cats were forced into a single cage. Because of the cross-country transport in such deplorable conditions, our investigators saw dead cats on top of cages and dying cats and dogs inside cages as well as cats and dogs with open wounds. Some animals were lethargic or frightened, and others were fighting with each other, driven insane from confinement and exposure.

Join Simon Cowell, Charlize Theron, Hostel star Jay Hernandez, Martha Stewart, and many more in boycotting the cruel fur trade.

You Can Help!

Your generous donation will help us keep the pressure on government officials, designers, and retailers to end the suffering of animals on fur farms in China and around the world.

Please write a letter to the Chinese ambassador urging China to enact an animal welfare law that will stop the cruel handling of cats, dogs, and other animals at markets and during transportation:

His Excellency Zhou Wenzhong
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
202-328-2574
202-328-2582 (fax)

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