I can imagine The Queen is trying to keep a low profile these days when it comes to the animal skins industry, so the news today of her stationer dealing in rare lizard skins is probably causing her to have a bit of a hot flush.

Smythson, the company behind the debacle, has David Cameron’s wife as the creative director, and gifts bound in the exotic skins sell for anything between £250 and £1,200. Is this the price of a near-endangered species’ life? Government agency, Animal Health, has revealed that three main species of lizard have been imported into the UK by businesses: the Nile monitor, common tegu and the water monitor – all classified as needing to have their trade controlled.

Biologist Clifford Warwick tells The Independent’s Martin Hickman what he has seen in the industry: “The hunters will then cut their heads off and skin them. In most cases they are alive when they are skinned.” Apparently, because they have such a slow metabolism, they could be alive for up to an hour after decapitation. All for a business-card case.

Exotic skins are never acceptable, no matter who you are or how much money you have. Celebrities like Lisa B (below) and fashion stores like Topshop, know this, and wouldn’t you rather follow in their footsteps than someone who keeps the bearskin trade in business? Make sure you contact Smythson and give them a (polite) piece of your mind, and urge them to stop selling rare lizard skin products.

The mock-croc look is in! Now while some celebs, (i.e. Ashley Olsen) not naming any names, will insist on the real deal and support an industry that costs the lives of magnificent crocodiles and alligators, we – along with fashion writers, shops and celebrities everywhere – know that fake is always better. Better for the sake of the animals and the mock-look is totally convincing. Alligators can naturally live up to 60 years, yet on farms they’re usually butchered before their fourth birthday, often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. Check out these new ads aimed at the exotic-skins trade, pretty nifty huh? But what I want to know is, which do you prefer?

Today is a very exciting day for compassionate fashionistas everywhere (I know the girls in the PETA office can’t keep still!). In the window display of Topshop’s massive flagship store down Oxford Street, they unveiled the proud proclamation – ‘Exotic skins make our blood run cold. Join Topshop and leave wildlife out of your wardrobe.’ True to Topshop’s long-standing tradition of amazing window displays (including last years anti-fur display also with PETA), this coming week you can see an impressive jungle scene with cuddly exotic creatures hanging from trees, in this new collaboration with PETA.

They’ve even blogged about it on their style blog and state, “Topshop have a long standing relationship with PETA and believe very firmly that breeding animals for their skins cannot be justified.

Every year millions of beautiful animals are stolen from their jungle homes in an unimaginable way, to be turned into fashion ‘accessories’.”Huge numbers of snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles are killed for heartless fashions. Ranched alligators are kept in tiny structures that reek of rancid meat, alligator waste and stagnant water. Although alligators can live up to 60 years in the wild, alligators on farms are usually butchered before their fourth birthday – they are sometimes beaten to death with hammers. Snakes are often skinned alive, and larger animals like pythons have hoses inserted into their mouths to force large quantities of water into their bodies, which loosens their skin and makes flaying easier. Their peeled, writhing bodies are then discarded, and they often die slowly.

Learn more about our exotic skins campaign and view the gorgeous Lisa B ad we did here.

Take the pledge to fake for animals’ sake and use only faux exotic skins here.