An animal rights charity is calling for fur coats due to be auctioned in Laois tomorrow to be withdrawn and donated to them instead.
PETA issued the cry ahead of tomorrow’s auction of the Maureen O’Hara Collection which is due to take place in Durrow.
The foundation has sent a letter to Sheppard’s Irish Auction House calling for the late actor’s mink and sable coats to be removed from sale and donated to its fur amnesty programme instead.
PETA Director Elisa Allen said: “Whereas decades ago, silver screen stars may have considered animal pelts glamorous, that’s unthinkable today, given what we know about the cruel fur industry.
“If these fur coats are donated to PETA, we can put them to good use in our educational displays, hand them out to homeless people, or use them as bedding for orphaned animals.”
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – notes that animals on fur farms are made to live in tiny wire cages, denied the opportunity to do anything that is natural and important to them, and killed by electrocution, neck-breaking, or drowning.
Animals are also caught in the wild in steel-jaw traps and left to languish – sometimes for days – before succumbing to hunger, thirst, disease, or attacks by predators or being bludgeoned to death by returning trappers.
The director concludes: “O’Hara was known for her warmth, intelligence, and love of dogs and as a champion of causes – so we hope you’ll agree that donating these coats would be the best way to honour her legacy.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, an auction house in Durrow will sell off €500,000-worth of items belonging to the Irish film star Maureen O’Hara.
The private collection includes a fur coat and is thought to be the biggest private collection of jewellery to be sold at auction in Ireland.
Also at auction tomorrow is a number of items belonging to the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. Among the items at auction are a long oak table estimated to be worth €5,000 – €7,000 and a collection of pottery commissioned for the private residences of Áras an Uachtaráin.
For more information see Sheppard’s Irish Auction House’s website.
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