PETA Will Continue to Exercise Free Expression to Speak Out on Animal Rights Issues
For
Immediate Release:
September
14, 2011
Contact:
Emily
Lavender 202-483-7382
Montréal -- The Municipal Court of the Ville de Montréal ruled in PETA's favour today over a $250 ticket that an activist travelling with the group received while distributing leaflets about the fur, leather, and exotic-skins industries to attendees of Montréal Fashion Week. The police officer who issued the ticket failed to provide the leaflets in question to the court. As a result, the charges against the activist have been dropped, and PETA will not be held responsible for the ticket, which, including court fees, would have cost the nonprofit organization $339. PETA will now turn its attention to fighting the $600 ticket that the activist received in Montréal in June for handing out leaflets about cruelty to animals on factory farms.
"PETA was confident that we would be acquitted in this case and is confident that we will be acquitted in future cases. Animal rights activism is political and, therefore, protected as free expression," says General Counsel to PETA Jeff Kerr. "People who wish to be heard on animal rights or any social cause have the right to speak up against pain and suffering and seek changes."
PETA activist Emily Lavender received the ticket while distributing PETA's "Fashion Forward" leaflets, which feature the images of fur-free celebrities, such as Natalie Portman, Eva Mendes, and Tyra Banks. The leaflets explain that animals who are killed for their fur are electrocuted, poisoned, or gassed or have their necks broken. Cows who are killed for their skins endure painful mutilations and physical abuse on factory farms and cruel treatment during transport and slaughter. Exotic animals fare no better. Snakes, for example, have hoses rammed into their mouths and are pumped full of water so that workers can more easily cut off the animals' tightened skin while the animals are still alive.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
