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Newborn lambs slaughtered for fashion

By The Copenhagen Post

Published 13.03.08 00:00

A Danish fur company has been criticised by an American animals rights organisation for distributing skin from newborn lambs

Danish fur company Kopenhagen Fur, the world's sole distributor of Namibian karakul lamb skins, has come under the glaring spotlight of an American animals rights organisation, reports Nyhedsavisen newspaper. 

The fur used by the company comes from lambs slaughtered soon after birth when the skin is especially soft. In other cases, pregnant sheep are slaughtered a few days before birth so the skin from their unborn offspring, which is even softer, can be used for making some of the world's most expensive fur garments that can cost up to DKK 100,000 a piece.

Last year, the fur company sold almost 200,000 skins from African and Afghan lambs to Danish fashion houses.

'This is the unpleasant side of the fur and fashion industries. Consumers aren't told the origin of the fur,' said Pierre Gryzbowski, a spokesman from Humane Society, the American animals rights organisation which has initiated a campaign against the practice of slaughtering lambs for fashion purposes.

'We can't justify killing newborn lambs for making clothes. What's worse is ripping foetuses out of pregnant sheep,' he said.

The Danish fashion and clothing industry acknowledges the dilemma, 'but shoes are made from lamb skin too,' said Eva Kruse, director of Danish Fashion Institute, which represents 60 fashion labels in Denmark. (LYT)

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