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The founder of Iyengar yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar, has written a letter to fashion designer Donna Karan asking her to stop using rabbit fur in her clothing lines. Iyengar, 92, on behalf of himself and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, requested that the founder of the DKNY empire to take a stand against animal cruelty.

Please take a stand

Iyengar wrote to Karan: ‘As a yoga practitioner, may I request you… to take a stand against using the fur of animals that is removed by the cruelest killing methods.’ PETA is known for a far more aggressive approach to animal rights activism than writing polite letters, but so far petitions and disturbing protests haven’t convinced Donna Karan to change her ways.

In 2008 Donna Karan did pledge to stop using fur in her designs and said that her autumn 2009 lines would be fur-free. She announced that she had ‘no plans’ to use fur again in the future. It seems the demand for fur outweighs pressure from animal rights groups, though, with Karan’s 2010 fashion line prominently featuring rabbit fur.

PETA members have since staged protests, in one of which they broadcast the sound of screaming rabbits to passersby in New York. Apparently rabbits, while normally silent, scream when afraid. Then there’s PETA’s dramatic online petition that calls for people to ‘Help stop the bunny butcher’.

Animals bludgeoned to death

According to PETA, ‘Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages, and fur farmers use the cheapest and cruellest killing methods available. Foxes, minks, coyotes, and rabbits—and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned, genitally electrocuted, and often skinned alive for their fur.’

Change.org reports that the rabbit fur Donna Karan uses is sourced from China, where the cages farmed rabbits live in are so small that the animals suffer spine injuries.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Iyengar’s gentle appeal does the trick. It seems PETA’s forceful campaigning isn’t making an impact on the fashion world, with Armani and Jean Paul Gaultier also refusing to go faux.

Tags: fashion