PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) has donated 200 fur coats to the charity Family Aid of Iceland to be distributed to homeless Icelanders, RÚV reports.
Every year, thousands of second hand fur coats are donated to PETA, which advocates the protection of animals. Poor people the world over have benefitted from the donations, including Syrian refugees.
Sonul Badiani-Hamment, a PETA representative stated there are 200 homeless people in Iceland. “So we got this idea to assist every homeless person in Iceland.”
In order to prevent the fur coats from being sold, they have been sprayed with pink paint.
Most of the coats will be delivered tomorrow in Reykjavík and Thursday in Reykjanesbær, while the rest will be shipped outside the capital area.
Guðrún Ögmundsdóttir, a former MP, is a contact person for long-term care homes. She has harshly criticized the donation. “When I heard of this yesterday, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” she admitted.
She is appalled that the fur coats are sprayed in pink, “for all to see that they come from them [PETA, that is], and, thereby, you have just labeled poor people who accept this product.”
Guðrún believes the need for fur coats is greater in many other places in the world, where thousands of people are literally freezing to death. The coats would be better used by serving as covers or floor mats in refugee camps, she remarked.
“In my opinion, those in charge of the welfare system ought to stop this. We can’t be labeling, and in fact branding, poor people this way. It’s ethically wrong,” Guðrún concluded.
