FATPad
12-18-2003, 09:20 AM
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional...g?articleid=593 (http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=593)
Animal rights advocates will single out small children at performances of ``The Nutcracker'' in the next few weeks by handing out fliers saying ``Your Mommy Kills Animals'' to youngsters whose mothers are wearing fur.
``Children can't look up to a mom in a battered-raccoon hat or a crushed coyote collar,'' said Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. ``Maybe when they're confronted by their own children's hurt looks, fur-wearers' cold hearts will melt.''
The fliers include a color drawing of a woman plunging a large bloody knife into the belly of a terrified rabbit. The fliers urge kids to ``ask your mommy how many dead animals she killed to make her fur clothes.
``And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the animals will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer.''
Brookline child psychologist Dr. Carolyn Newberger called the tactics ``terribly dangerous to children.''
``It's using children in the worst possible way,'' she said. ``If (the activists) want to legitimately work to protect animals from destruction for fashion, they have every right to. But to do so by targeting children and making them feel their mothers are murderers is absolutely unconscionable.''
Lisa Franzetta, a national coordinator for PETA, said the group will launch its ``fur-ocious'' protest at `Nutcracker' performances in as many as 20 cities across the United States.
Franzetta, who is based in California, said yesterday she did not yet know when the protests will begin in Boston, where ``The Nutcracker'' is playing at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in the Theater District.
Franzetta acknowledged the anti-fur campaign might spark a backlash. ``It's definitely provocative, I will give you that,'' she said.
Wang Center officials could not be reached for comment about the planned protests.
Animal rights advocates will single out small children at performances of ``The Nutcracker'' in the next few weeks by handing out fliers saying ``Your Mommy Kills Animals'' to youngsters whose mothers are wearing fur.
``Children can't look up to a mom in a battered-raccoon hat or a crushed coyote collar,'' said Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. ``Maybe when they're confronted by their own children's hurt looks, fur-wearers' cold hearts will melt.''
The fliers include a color drawing of a woman plunging a large bloody knife into the belly of a terrified rabbit. The fliers urge kids to ``ask your mommy how many dead animals she killed to make her fur clothes.
``And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the animals will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer.''
Brookline child psychologist Dr. Carolyn Newberger called the tactics ``terribly dangerous to children.''
``It's using children in the worst possible way,'' she said. ``If (the activists) want to legitimately work to protect animals from destruction for fashion, they have every right to. But to do so by targeting children and making them feel their mothers are murderers is absolutely unconscionable.''
Lisa Franzetta, a national coordinator for PETA, said the group will launch its ``fur-ocious'' protest at `Nutcracker' performances in as many as 20 cities across the United States.
Franzetta, who is based in California, said yesterday she did not yet know when the protests will begin in Boston, where ``The Nutcracker'' is playing at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in the Theater District.
Franzetta acknowledged the anti-fur campaign might spark a backlash. ``It's definitely provocative, I will give you that,'' she said.
Wang Center officials could not be reached for comment about the planned protests.