When we heard that around 540 workers are to be laid off by furry design house Burberry (including 290 in the UK and 250 in Spain) we knew just the thing to draw attention to another of Burberry’s ‘issues’ – a “Lay off the animals, not the workers!” protest!

Burberry may be best known for its chavy check, but its management continues to use fur, despite being shown shocking video footage of animals caught in traps and on fur farms. And that’s what we most want the company to be known for until they ditch the caveman couture. Perhaps they could save a few bob by ‘going faux’ and leaving the slaughter of beautiful animals out of their designs, hmm?

Nowadays, there are so many ways you can get active for animals; it’s never been easier! Probably the most fantastic tool ever invented for animal rights is the good ole world wide web: it’s instant, it’s interactive and you can contact furry foes with the click of a button. If you haven’t already done so, go check us out on Bebo and YouTube. But what I’m really raving about this week is Facebook.

Yep, we’re on the social networking site that has pretty much the whole world addicted (not that I check mine morning, noon and night, or anything), and now we have four causes that you can get involved with: KFC, Burberry, Unbearable Cruelty and Selfridges. With Winter now in full swing, it’s the most important time of the year to make sure fur coats and trims stay out of season. Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages, where they are exposed to all weather conditions. They often go without adequate shelter, clean water and veterinary care, and the unnatural conditions causes them go insane. Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruellest killing methods available, including suffocation, electrocution, gassing and poisoning.

And if there’s one company that really needs to be reminded of these facts, it’s chav-tastic Burberry. The fur-flogging company is well aware of the suffering that goes into their fur items, yet it would seem to fall on deaf ears. With designer after designer going fur-free, Burberry has no excuse – it’s time to drop the fur.

Join the Burberry Facebook cause and keep up to date with our campaign. Oh, and don’t forget to ‘recruit’ as many friends as you can, and get your profile in the Hall of Fame!

Donna Karan, the target of one of PETA US’ campaigns, has announced that her “fall” (that’s Autumn to you and me) 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has “no plans” to use fur in the future!

Following all kinds of “Donna Karan: Bunny Butcher” antics, which have included protesting outside her boutiques, crashing her runway show, and exposing her cruel use of fur online, PETA US is now calling on activists and supporters to put the brakes on, This is a win for the real fashion victims – animals, who are routinely skinned alive for their pelts – and will allow us all to focus on Burberry and Armani and other targets while keeping an eye on Donna Karan’s 2010 collection.

Karan’s announcement came days after PETA US launched their (now offline) DonnaKaranBunnyButcher.com website and after mega–fashion guru Tim Gunn sent Karan and designer Giorgio Armani a video that he narrated for PETA US showing animals skinned alive for their fur and urged them to open their eyes to the violent and bloody fur industry.

While Donna Karan has followed in the footsteps of top designers – including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein – Armani still refuses to stop using fur. Armani claims that he “only” uses fur from rabbits who are butchered for meat. We hope that you will take this opportunity to contact Armani to tell him that while the meat of gentle rabbits killed for their fur in China is sold to be eaten, the suffering that they endure is exactly the same. Point out that the cruelty depicted in this video on fur farms in both China and France show animals who are used for both fur and meat.

Everyone loves a good Burberry protest, and there’s no exception for far-away lands like Hong Kong – check out these bronze, silver and gold naked ladies below! It’s just days before the Olympics kick-off in Beijing, so what better time to tell the world about Burberry’s use of fur. A huge proportion of the world’s fur products come from China, and Chinese fur farms are notoriously inhumane in how they treat their victims. No medal for you Burberry, or maybe just the boobie prize.

How rude! As you know, Bruce Friedrich went to Burberry’s AGM for shareholders this morning, only to be denied entry for no reason whatsoever. In PETA’s view they’ve broken the rules governing publicly traded companies and we’re now seeking legal advice on the matter. It’s quite obvious that Burberry didn’t want anyone associated with PETA present, as the horrific truth would come spilling out in front of their important guests. That’s so weak and simply highlights the fact that they have no valid excuse for using fur in their designs.

It went down like this:

Bruce registered in time for the meeting and confirmed his registration with Burberry’s proxy company as earlier directed. He provided picture identification and a copy of his proxy voucher and attendance card, but company officials refused to allow him entry. Friedrich confirmed again over the phone after the meeting that the proxy had arrived before the company’s deadline.

Burberry is a publicly traded company and if they have violated the rules that govern such companies, there are bound to be consequences. Seeing as though Bruce couldn’t read out a shareholder statement as planned, we sent it directly to Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, Chairman John Peace, and Chief Designer Christopher Bailey.

Here’s what Burberry don’t want their shareholders to see.

At this very moment somewhere in London, Bruce Friedrich (on behalf of PETA and PETA US) is at Burberry’s AGM.

You may remember what happened last time he met Burberry. It went a little something like this:

Bruce: I hope you will meet with us; I think if you saw these fur farms, if you really understood the horrible abuse of animals involved in the fur industry, you’d agree to stop designing with this cruel material.

Fashion bigwig: What gives you the right to come in here and hijack this event and take over everything and disrupt it and ruin this event? This is not the place for this discussion.

There was a whole lot more, but you can read it here.

Yesterday, activists sent emails to Burberry HQ, urging them to discuss the use of fur in the annual meeting today, and to consider dropping animal skins from their collections for good. If this line of conversation does arise, it’ll be pretty interesting to see how it goes. I wait with baited bated breath and will let you know if anything exciting happens!

It has been a hectic few weeks in the office pouring through sheets and sheets of Burberry Shareholder information. (Don’t worry, it’s all publicly available, so no need to “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more”) The mission, as we chose to accept it was thus: To get names and addresses of the 2,000 shareholders and send them a letter and a video, the video is below, and - I suspect - Burberry REALLY doesn’t want people, let alone their shareholders to view it.

The video shows a fur farm in Finland, where row upon row of cages upon cages contain countless beautiful animals that will be turned into the foulest looking coats, hats and other miscellaneous horrid fur trimmed items. Burberry claims it sources its furs from Finnish fur farms where there is supposed to be the “highest standards of ethical animal treatment”, I ask that you take a look for yourself and see the video Burberry doesn’t want you to see – ethical my arse!

PETA also explains that fur farms are prohibited in the UK and that 93 per cent of the British public oppose buying or wearing fur. PETA’s repeated offers to meet with Burberry executives to discuss how easy it would be for the company to switch to luxurious faux fur have been met with silence or worse, public promises which are never kept.

Burberry shareholders, many of whom are like the majority of the British public, will be opposed to the use of real fur. Therefore, every Burberry shareholder has a right to be informed that a company they have shares in is contributing to the horrific treatment of animals, what Burberry shareholders choose to do with that info is up to them. At PETA, we hope they will tell Burberry management where to put their shares.

Your Burberry Fightin’ Neighbourhood Matt

p.s. (I love p.s’s don’t you!) On Sunday, Alicia Silverstone will be on Graham Norton’s show, you should watch it, it’s all about her vegan dogs and her work with PETA)

When companies that deal in dead animal skins don’t listen to what we have to say, we need to think of new ways to approach them. Executives and bigwigs at Burberry have been shunning our anti-fur message for years, so it was time to get a little up close and personal.

Tuesday night, PETA US VP Bruce Friedrich (who’s in the UK for a short while) confronted Burberry designer Christopher Bailey at a London College of Fashion discussion on menswear. Also at the event – and at the receiving end of Bruce and Christopher’s rather heated discussion – were fashion journalists Colin McDowell and Jeremy Langmead, and more than 200 students. Some members of the audience even blogged about the exchange of words when they got home.

It went a little something like this:

“Event started at 6 p.m. It was “a discussion” about men’s fashion moderated by Colin McDowell of the Sunday Times. After about 30 minutes of talk about trends, I raised my hand:

· Mr. McDowell said, “Oh good, a question! Yes. Oh and you’re prepared, you have notes! Please wait for the microphone so that everyone can hear you”

· Me: Do you mind if I take the discussion in a slightly different direction?

· McDowell: No no, please do!

· Me (reviewing my notes, which is how I know exactly what I said—I had the microphone and spoke very slowly): I have a question for Mr. Bailey about morality in fashion. [Bailey starts to look nervous]. Specifically, fur farming is so cruel to animals that it is illegal in the UK and many other countries, yet you continue to put it into Burberry’s collections. Animals are anally and vaginally electrocuted and skinned alive [gasps], and you seem not to care at all. Is there any abuse of animals so hideous that you would object?

· Bailey: I would be happy to have that discussion with you, but not here.

· McDowell (blustering, livid, bursts out): Now I have a question for you—What gives you the right to come in here, what relevance does that question have to the issue of men’s fashion. Take his microphone away!

· Me: Well you asked me a question, so please do me the courtesy of hearing my answer. [he looked like “oh shit, well that was stupid of me”] What Christopher Bailey pays people do to do to animals on some of the worst fur farms you can imagine, would put him in jail for cruelty to animals if he were paying people to do it to dogs or cats. The fur industry is a violent bloody industry that skins animals alive and crams them into crates where they go insane, and he supports it. Every time and everyplace is appropriate for this discussion.

· McDowell: Well he says he’ll talk w/you about it later. This is not the time.

· Me: He told us that before and then he didn’t return our calls or reply to our letters.

· McDowell: You have made your point. You’ve done what you came here to do. You are welcome to stay or go, but we will not be discussion this issue at this forum. [thunderous applause, though til this point, you could hear a pin drop].

· About 10 minutes later I walked up and slipped Bailey one of our Burberry leaflets and a note that read, “Please make good on your promise this time. You told us you’d meet with us before; this time please call” and gave him my contact info. McDowell looked very concerned as I walked up.

· When they finished up, I was able to go up and have a very heated exchange with him, our faces about 5 inches apart, in front of the line of people who had come for his autograph.

· Me: I hope you will meet with us; I think if you saw these fur farms, if you really understood the horrible abuse of animals involved in the fur industry, you’d agree to stop designing with this cruel material.

· Bailey (moving in and putting his face about 5 inches from mine - very angry and intense): What gives you the right to come in here and hijack this event and take over everything and disrupt it and ruin this event? This is not the place for this discussion.

· Me: You told us you’d meet with us and then you backed out. I hope you will call or email me to set up a meeting; you are supporting horrible cruelty.

· Bailey: I have to talk with other people. You have no style [yes, he actually said “you have no style”; maybe he meant “class”?]

It was pretty bizarre - everyone on line for an autograph from Bailey took a Burberry leaflet from me (including Bailey and his handler and Jeremy Langmead, the editor of Esquire, who was sharing the stage with him).”

Image: Telegraph / CC

Wow, this is seriously the best online game I’ve played at work for ages – the irony here being that I don’t have to hide it from my boss though! Ever wanted to take revenge on Burberry for their sale of fur, but don’t want to get on the wrong side of the law? Here’s your chance to stick it to ‘em, in the form of a fox, racoon or rabbit; the very lovable animals that get slaughtered for their skins. I’ve been trying to work my way through the levels, so far I’ve wielded a can of spray paint, a sign on a catwalk and escaped from Burberry’s CEO – great fun. Let me know how you get on, post your scores here and let the battle commence!

Here’s a report from Rob, our Burberry campaigner who is working hard to rid the chavy company of fur.

“There were two protests in Paris on Saturday 15th March. First one was at the Burberry store in Boulevard Malesherbes, which is also the Burberry France HQ. Two grim reapers and a dozen people took part, then a second demo took place at Rue de Rennes later on in the day.

On the same day in Berlin, the group “Berlin-Vegan“ and PETA Germany held a two-hour demonstration in front of the Burberry shop at Kurfürstendamm. An activist was dressed as the Grim Reaper and a bloody fur coat was also displayed to represent the animals that are brutalised on fur farms.

In Manchester on Sunday 16 March, 13 people turn out for a demo which was a great success. Also in the UK that day, London saw 19 people brave the wind and the rain to hold two demos outside Burberry stores at the same time, one in Regent Street and the other in New Bond Street. The driving rain and the wind failed to dampen people’s spirits and the London streets were filled with chants demanding that Burberry make the ethical decision and go fur free.

I’m busy planning more Burberry store demos and these demos will begin to spread across Europe. Burberry can rest assured that there isn’t a single country where they can hide, and no matter where they have retail outlets, PETA and its supporters will be there to hold them to account.”

Well, there you go. Best you listened up eh, Burberry?