# Do people actually throw fake blood on fur coat wearers? Why aren't they arrested? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021 "2009-02-23T05:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/1 "2009-02-23T05:40:31Z")
The media hype a few years ago was that hippies were throwing fake blood on ladies wearing fur coats. Did this ever really happen – not just a PETA staged event, but strangers without consent deliberately ruining fur coats? ANd if it did happen, were the perpetrators not breaking the law|? Were they sued or charged criminally? And what has happened to the anti-fur campaign – i Dont hear much about it, and the fur industry seems to be strong (at least on ebay). ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/2 "2009-02-23T05:43:45Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > And what has happened to the anti-fur campaign – i Dont hear much about it, and the fur industry seems to be strong (at least on ebay). I think it’s mainly that people got tired of hearing about it, so the news networks stopped talking about it, and while there’s still probably the same number of True Believers, the people who were against it to be popular stopped being against it when being against it started no longer being popular. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/3 "2009-02-23T05:52:39Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > And what has happened to the anti-fur campaign – i Dont hear much about it, and the fur industry seems to be strong (at least on ebay). It’s still alive and strong. When I was living in San Francisco there were regular protests outside the Neiman Marcus on Geary St. But it became something that was so normal most people just ignored it. And PETA is still very much into it as well, but they’ve taken to targeting younger people by handing out ‘lovely’ [“Your Mommy Kills Animals”](http://www.furisdead.com/feat-momfur.asp) comics. > [@](#): > > Kids will see the bloody truth behind their moms’ pretentious pelts. Accompanied by graphic photographs of skinned carcasses and animals languishing on fur farms, children will read: “Lots of wonderful foxes, raccoons, and other animals are kept by mean farmers who squish them into cages so small that they can hardly move. They never get to play or swim or have fun. All they can do is cry-just so your greedy mommy can have that fur coat to show off in when she walks the streets.” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/4 "2009-02-23T06:16:03Z")
I thought for sure that it would be easy to dig up a cite or two showing the existence of this tactic, but I can’t find a thing. Searching back to 1989, I cannot find a single contemporaneous news account in the US media of activists throwing blood or red paint on non-consenting fur owners. There are, obviously, lots of articles mentioning this tactic, but I can’t find any evidence that it actually occurred. PETA used to disrupt fashion shows involving fur, and also staged a number of events involving blood-spattered furs, but they were never throwing blood on the non-consenting. Could it be a myth? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/5 "2009-02-23T06:17:19Z")
They’re sexists, cowards and not serious about animal rights. If they were serious, they would also go after other people wearing animal products, like bikers, with their leather jackets. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/6 "2009-02-23T06:54:35Z")
I’m always surprised to see myself at “the wrong side” of the argument in these kinds of debates, but I can totally understand this kind of activism. I wouldn’t throw paint, but that is because I was raised too well. The most I ever did was frowning at fur wearers. But it was a stern frown. 🙂 There are two differences between fur wearers and leather wearers. The principal difference is that cow leather is a by product from meat production. There’s also a practical reason and that is these activists, like any other, have to choose their battles. Going after people who eat meat, or wear leather, even leather shoes, would alieneate about 95 percent of your public. That’s not activism, but political masochism. As to the OP: I have seen pictures of paint thrown or sprayed on fur coats, but only one or two and only from the eigthies. In the nineties, any fur coats smeared in blood would be second-hand coats owned by the activists themselves. Modern anti-fur activism seems to be targeted at just demostrations. Often the participants are nude, which attracts more press attention. Recently dozens of activists covered themselves in fake blood and put themselves in a discarded heap, resembling skinned caracases ([picture](http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2009/01/wtf_foto_van_de_dag.html) NSFW) in a public demonstration in Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/7 "2009-02-23T06:57:05Z")
> [@detop](#): > > They’re sexists, cowards and not serious about animal rights. If they were serious, they would also go after other people wearing animal products, like bikers, with their leather jackets. To be fair, there is a qualitative difference between furs, which come from animals that were killed solely or primarily to use their hides for furs, and leather, which is a by-product of the meat industry. Yes, buying leather supports animal slaughter, but you can probably make a pretty good case that the animal in question would have been killed anyway even if its hide wasn’t sold as leather. For furs, especially furs from trapped wild animals, that’s not the case: if nobody wanted to buy the fur, the animal wouldn’t be slaughtered. So it’s reasonable to think of an anti-fur campaign as more important or urgent than an anti-leather campaign, if you’re against the animal-slaughter aspect of it. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/8 "2009-02-23T11:07:11Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Yes, buying leather supports animal slaughter, but you can probably make a pretty good case that the animal in question would have been killed anyway even if its hide wasn’t sold as leather. For furs, especially furs from trapped wild animals, that’s not the case: if nobody wanted to buy the fur, the animal wouldn’t be slaughtered. The NZ possum fur and rabbit fur industries are byproducts of pest control - the animals would be killed anyhow. Making money from the fur is a real bonus for the hunters, and they (and the producers of fur products) constantly run into anti-fur activism. For some products, fur is the ethical, environmental choice. And possum fur is really soft and pretty. Si ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/9 "2009-02-23T13:37:24Z")
PETA doesn’t give a shit that the cows would have died anyway. That’s the organization that draws equivalence between eating a chicken sandwich and pushing a Jew into an oven. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/10 "2009-02-23T13:39:10Z")
I wouldn’t think this would be a good tactic anyway. I see this as a possible scenario: A fur coat has been destroyed. It was expensive so it is insured. A new one is purchased. More animals will be killed as a direct result of the action of the protester. I realize they are hoping that the person will just stop wearing fur but I suspect that my scenario is more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/11 "2009-02-23T13:51:10Z")
I assume if they are caught they will be charged with a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/12 "2009-02-23T14:45:01Z")
Still no evidence that this has ever happened? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/13 "2009-02-23T15:22:38Z")
The Vogue editor was hit with a pie by PETA twice in 1 year over the fur issue. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9651212/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9651212/) Looks like they used pies for a while , not fake blood. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/14 "2009-02-23T15:35:06Z")
[Finally… A PETA tactic I approve of…[NSFW]](http://www.furisdead.com/buttons/full_eva_mendes.jpg) (sorry… saw it in the link the the comic) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/15 "2009-02-23T15:53:27Z")
As is so often the case with animal activism, breathlessly-retold tales of how stupid and hypocritical the animal-rights and animal-welfare people are have gained widespread circulation, because it makes people feel all right about not changing ingrained habits. Fur isn’t an “ethical” choice if your ethics extend to nonhumans. And it’s not logically possible to have a sustainable fur industry from pest control – think about it. It takes a LOT of possum-sized animals to make a coat for a human. If New Zealand actually had enough possums causing problems for humans to support a commercial fur industry, it would be some kind of Biblical plague we’d hear about in the news. It would be unsustainable – you couldn’t constantly have to kill thousands of possums, you’d either reduce their numbers to commercially useless levels or you’d be driven to move away from the endless horde of possums invading human habitation. Sure, I’d believe that _some_ hunters sell “pest” pelts to supplement an industry that already exists, getting the bulk of its pelts from other means (traps or farming or non-pest-pelt-hunting), but in that case, the claim that “the industries are the byproducts of pest control” is patently exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/16 "2009-02-23T16:11:00Z")
Lindsey Lohan got flour thrown on her, I think, several months ago. Not paint, though, unless I recall incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/17 "2009-02-23T16:11:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Lindsey Lohan got flour thrown on her, I think, several months ago. Not paint, though, unless I recall incorrectly. Your memory is correct. It happened in France, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-actually-throw-fake-blood-on-fur-coat-wearers-why-arent-they-arrested/487021/18 "2009-02-23T16:40:50Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > The NZ possum fur and rabbit fur industries are byproducts of pest control - the animals would be killed anyhow. Making money from the fur is a real bonus for the hunters, and they (and the producers of fur products) constantly run into anti-fur activism. For some products, fur is the ethical, environmental choice. And possum fur is really soft and pretty. Yup, I have no ethical objections to pest-control-harvested possum fur, and I have purchased it on trips to New Zealand. > [@Sailboat](#): > > And it’s not logically possible to have a sustainable fur industry from pest control – think about it. It takes a LOT of possum-sized animals to make a coat for a human. If New Zealand actually had enough possums causing problems for humans to support a commercial fur industry, it would be some kind of Biblical plague we’d hear about in the news. It would be unsustainable – you couldn’t constantly have to kill thousands of possums, you’d either reduce their numbers to commercially useless levels or you’d be driven to move away from the endless horde of possums invading human habitation. > > Sure, I’d believe that some hunters sell “pest” pelts to supplement an industry that already exists, getting the bulk of its pelts from other means (traps or farming or non-pest-pelt-hunting), but in that case, the claim that “the industries are the byproducts of pest control” is patently exaggerated. Reducing the numbers of possums to commercially useless levels is exactly what New Zealand is trying to do. The [National Possum Control Agencies](http://www.npca.org.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=11) and individual landowners are killing the possums anyway. The sale of the pelts is just a means to recoup some of the money (about NZ$80 million annually) spent on possum eradication efforts. So no, the NZ possum fur industry is not commercially self-supporting: it is indeed just a byproduct of pest eradication efforts. It will disappear when/if the possum population is reduced to sufficiently low levels. The 70 million or so possums in NZ, an introduced species with no natural predators, certainly do cause major problems for indigenous flora and wildlife. The only reason they’re not quite up to Biblical-plague levels of impact is because of the eradication efforts. For instance, possums are rapidly decimating the numbers of the New Zealand national bird/mascot, the kiwi, with which they compete for habitat. New Zealanders want them all dead, and I don’t blame them (though naturally, I don’t blame the possums either: they didn’t ask to be introduced, and they’re just doing what critters do). By the way, possum fur is most commonly manufactured into garment trim and accessories, not full-on fur coats. (IME most of New Zealand never really gets cold enough to warrant wearing a serious-warmth garment like a fur coat, anyway.)