Material Madonna and the Cruel Fur Coat

liz.rosenberg(at)wbr.com, bc(at)mbcpr.com

Madonna
c/o Liz Rosenberg, USA
Warner Bros./Reprise Records Publicity

Madonna
c/o Barbara Charone, UK

Dear Madonna,

I'm very confused. Several years ago you were spotted wearing an anti-fur tee shirt. Yet at December 8, 2006, news story featured you leaving a London restaurant in a $70,000 Fendi chinchilla fur coat. I am disappointed a pop icon whose fashion choices influence millions has opted to shed compassion in favor of violence.

Fur absolutely isn't hip, high-end or smart. In fact, it reflects the wearer's lack of ethical fortitude. At least 60 chinchillas -- timid, bright animals who can live 15 years in the wild -- were brutally killed for your coat.

Your chinchillas subsisted in dingy, waste-soaked cages on fur factory
farms. They were likely electrocuted through their genitals. A prod lodged
into the rectum transmitted a 240-volt electrical shock, causing the animal
to convulse and cry for minutes before suffering a massive heart attack. Or, like other small fur-bearing animals, they may have been "neck-popped." The killer yanked the animal's vertebra out of the socket for an excruciating death that lasts as long as five minutes.

Since unregulated fur farms use crude, cheap killing methods, there's a good chance some of your chinchillas regained consciousness while skinned. Violence and suffering don't look good on anyone. Please don't wear fur, as I also thought you are a vegetarian?!

With kind regards,