PETA, the animal rights action group, is once again tongue lashing against the use of animal prints on aprons and lingerie. According to them, the use of such prints can give a bad message that it is ok or beautiful to wear zebra prints, leopard spot prints, and tiger prints. Likewise, they claim that the businesses are somewhat conditioning the minds of the people for a possible return of real animal skin on the clothing business. First of all, PETA has gotten extremely childish recently and no serious person should ever consider the arguments they showcase on their website. We are a meat-eating society and there is nothing wrong if we use animal prints or even animal skin on our clothes. Man is not a beast; and a beast has no rights. Second, while animal skin aprons were common in the olden times, they were primarily used to protect blacksmiths or metal smelters from the hot metals. Animal-print aprons are purely made out of cotton, polyester and other fabrics because that is the current demand. People don’t need heavy animal-skin aprons to cook their omelet or prepare dinner. Finally, there is no evidence so far to link animal-print aprons to the society’s urge to bring back the fur trade. Wearing animal-print lingerie does not make the wearer want to kill tigers or leopards or minks.
Suppose there would come a time that manufacturers started using animal skin on aprons because the demand is present. Then, the manufacturers have all the right to do so as long as they own (farmed) the animals they are going to use. The need of the people is much more important than the need of the minks. In some places, manufacturers of lingerie made from animal skin have devised ways to make the skin more hypoallergenic. In the process, the manufacturers employed plenty of people within the community they are operating. Now, which is better – supporting PETA or supporting our poachers