As we saw a few days ago, Duchess Kate’s first royal Christmas seemed to go very well. She got lots of attention in her plum coat and coordinating hat, she wore her seemingly new Christmas gift earrings (green amethysts!), and she looked happy. But all was not perfect in The Queendom of Waity. Animal-rights activists had basically come out and said that they would be putting a fatwa out on Kate if she participated in the royal family’s annual Boxing Day pheasant shoot. So what did Kate do? She went to the hunt, but she “stayed in the background,” not participating in the blood sport. Good for Kate? I don’t know. It seems like the animal-rights people are gloating, and they feel like they have leverage on her now.

Kate Middleton has declined to participate in the Royal Family’s traditional Boxing Day bird shoot. The wife of Prince William reportedly went against protocol and opted to “stay in the background” following pleas from animal rights organizations to step out of the Sandringham Estate celebration.

“At the moment Kate is very much the bright new star of the Royal Family and the Palace is keen for her to keep her nose clean,” a source told the Daily Star. “Activists have begged her not to join the shoot. No-one wants to see her caught up in a scandal so soon.”

Middleton’s move has been commended by a number of charity representatives, with the League Against Cruel Sports commenting: “We are pleased that Kate has decided not to take part in the annual bloodbath.”

PETA further praised the Duchess of Cambridge for continuing the anti-bloodsport sentiments held by her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.

“The Royals have always had a hard time adjusting to social value,” president Ingrid Newkirk commented. “Rather than emulating Diana the Huntress, perhaps the British public is seeing a new Kate who is taking after Diana, the Princess of Hearts.”

Prince Philip was absent from the Boxing Day shoot due to his hospitalization for a blocked coronary artery. He was discharged this morning (December 27) after recovering from heart surgery.

[From Digital Spy]

“No-one wants to see her caught up in a scandal so soon.” Is it really a “scandal” to take part in the royal family’s annual Boxing Day activities? She would have been criticized if she had taken part, but it wouldn’t have been a “scandal,” it would have just been a (minor) animal-rights controversy. You know I’m no Kate-defender, but I dislike how the animal-rights groups are using poor Kate. She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t, and why is only HER participation an issue? What about the other members of the royal family?

So… in my opinion, the only real “scandal” Kate is currently embroiled in is The Great Weave Scandal. I still have concerns that Kate is employing weaves and extensions. Oh, and let’s not forget The Raccoon McWaity Scandal. I wonder what her eyeliner budget is? Why doesn’t anyone think of the poor, victimized eyeliner?

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame.

The story of all the slaughtered exotic animals in Ohio makes me incredibly sad, especially after seeing the photo of the poor creatures laid out dead on the grass. You wonder if authorities could have handled it more humanely and if the lives of those endangered animals could have been saved. It’s no one’s fault except for the awful man who collected them and set them free, and police were just trying to make sure that no one was harmed. I wonder if they could have done it differently and asked for large animal veterinarians to help before they shot them dead, but it’s hard to judge from the outside. The Human Society has issued a statement that they “do not fault [authorities] for using lethal force” in that case. This article on CNN explains how tranquilizer darts don’t work as effectively or quickly as we might think, and can actually agitate animals and make them more dangerous. Cops may have legitimately feared for their lives and the lives of nearby citizens and may have had no other way to defend themselves than to put the animals down.

A lot of people are saying that no one should have been permitted to privately own that many exotic animals at once, or really at all. I guess they’re relatively simple to obtain at auction and there are no regulations against ownership of wild animals in Ohio. Never one to pass up an opportunity for publicity, rabid animal rights group PETA is asking the upcoming Cameron Crowe film, We Bought a Zoo, to include a warning against ownership of exotic pets in its promotional materials and on screen during the credits. We Bought a Zoo is out on December 23, 2011 and stars Matt Damon and Scarlet Johansson.

Based on Benjamin Mee’s memoir, the film stars Damon as a father who moves his family to the countryside to help save a struggling zoo. Johansson plays a keeper at the animal park, which is home to an assortment of lions, tigers, zebras and bears, among other creatures.

PETA says it has sent a letter to Zoo director Cameron Crowe urging him to include a warning at the end of the movie about the dangers of owning wild animals.

“We Bought a Zoo conveys the misleading and downright dangerous message that no special knowledge—just a lot of heart—is needed to run a zoo,” PETA’s Lisa Lange said in a statement.

“As the tragedy in Ohio gruesomely illustrates, wild animals aren’t Disney characters. They have very special needs that all too often aren’t met by people who buy them on a whim because they think it would be cool to own a tiger.”

PETA has asked Crowe to also insist that 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film, include warnings on all marketing materials, including movie posters.

There are up to 15,000 captive big cats in the U.S., mostly privately owned, according to the animal rights group.

A rep for Fox did not immediately comment.

[From E! Online]

I hate that I’m defending PETA here, but it’s actually a reasonable request and they’re not mocking anyone or sounding especially rude in the letter they’ve sent to Crowe. (That we can tell.) It’s not like they’re calling for a boycott of the film, or the movie to be pulled or anything. Compared to some of the crap they usually pull, this is pretty “tame.” It’s also quite clever, for PETA, in that they’re using a recent event to raise awareness and sympathy without alienating people by condemning anyone. I’m sure they’ll do something next week that’s just as outrageous as we’ve come to expect from them, though.

Here’s the trailer for We Bought a Zoo. It looks really good and that child actress is adorable.

Note: these photos are from 2008, well before this trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed. Credit: WENN

I know that I should get mad about more important stories, and I do, but this one upset me so much that I wanted to write about it. Remember how that killer whale at Sea World dragged a trainer to her death last year? That was witnessed by spectators including little kids at a Sea World performance, with the tape released online and shown on TV. It was pretty terrifying and sad to see a woman who dedicated her life to caring for marines animals get killed by one. That was in late February, 2010 and many animal rights activists, including actor Eli Roth, urged Sea World to reconsider their policy of keeping such large dangerous marine mammals in captivity. Well not only has Sea World not heeded anyone’s wishes, they’ve put that exact whale, Tilikum, back to work doing shows. Tilikum has killed two other people in his lifetime along with his trainer.

All 12,000 pounds of Tilikum will be on display when he performs in the “Believe” show this morning.

In a statement, executives from SeaWorld defended Tilikum’s reentry into the performing world saying it “is an important component of his physical, social and mental enrichment.”

Tilikum has been connected to the death of three humans. The last death was on Feb. 24, 2010 when Tilikum used his girth to snatch trainer Dawn Brancheau’s ponytail, pull her underwater and shake her violently until she died.

The death was caught on tape and watched by horrified spectators…

In August, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that Seaworld showed indifference or intentional disregard for employee safety by exposing workers to drowning hazards when they interact with killer whales.

The agency fined SeaWorld $75,000 and recommended that trainers not be allowed to have any physical contact with Tilikum unless protected by a physical barrier.

In response, SeaWorld officials say they are building fast rising false bottom floors capable of lifting whales and trainers out of the water in an emergency.

[From ABC]

Sea World is like “whatever, we’re building something at some point that might prevent someone from dying maybe.” Only they don’t have those “fast rising floors” built yet and are putting this whale back in the shows so it can earn its keep. If you saw that tape that lady was killed in a few moments. Some trick floor that isn’t even ready yet wouldn’t have prevented her death.

I get that you can’t just take a whale that’s lived in captivity all its life and put it back in the ocean. You can make the decision not to put it in a live stage show when it’s killed three people though. I’m never going to visit a SeaWorld park and I would encourage everyone to consider whether they want to spend money there.

While I think it’s pretty dumb to wear fur at this point, I also think it’s kind of mean to pick on poor Queen Elizabeth II. QEII wore some kind of (fox?) fur hat on Christmas day, plus a coat with a matching fur trim. And now PETA and various British animal rights groups are all up in arms. QEII is really old, though – my point being that she probably still thinks she’s living in a time when fur trimmings are considered the height of fashion. Plus, it’s really cold. What is she supposed to wear to church, polar fleece? Eh. Here’s more from The Daily Mail:

The Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall came under fire from animal rights campaigners ­yesterday after they both wore fur hats on Christmas Day. The Russian-style hats they wore to attend a church service in ­Sandringham with other members of the Royal Family were made from fur from different types of fox, claimed experts.

Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid, said: ‘This strikes me as an ostentatious display of cruelty. To parade fur in 2010 says something unpleasant about the person wearing it.’

The Cossack-style hat worn by Camilla was made from ‘vintage fur’, by designer milliner Philip Treacy, using a piece of fur which had previously belonged to the duchess’s mother.

A spokesman for the Queen said she could not confirm if Her Majesty’s cream-coloured hat and matching coat trim were made from real fur but experts said they were convinced it was. Many fashion designers continue to use fur in their collections, and campaigners have expressed fears that it has come back into style. They have called on celebrities and members of the Royal Family to ‘set a good example’ by ­choosing not to wear animal pelts.

The Queen has worn fur in the past and her official robes for State occasions are trimmed with ermine, the winter coat of the stoat.

Camilla faced anger from animal rights organisations last year, when she wore fur twice during an official visit to Canada. First she wore a grey rabbit stole when she visited Newfoundland, together with a hat trimmed with fake fur. She then donned a calf-length cape lined with grey fox fur. Both pieces were said to have been ‘refashioned’ from vintage fur that had belonged to her grandmother, Sonia Cubitt, Baroness Ashcombe, whose mother, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of Edward VII.

The ethical question of ‘recycling’ vintage fur has split opinion, but Mr Tyler said: ‘It doesn’t matter when the animal was killed, it’s a body part and a product of cruelty.’

In 2000 Prince Edward’s wife Sophie apologised after she was seen wearing a fox fur hat. The Countess of Wessex said her decision to wear the hat on a skiing holiday in St Moritz, Switzerland, was ‘an error of judgment’.

Legislation to ban fur farming in Britain was passed that same year following a lengthy campaign ­highlighting the physical and ­psychological distress suffered by animals in some fur farms.

However, it remains legal to import fur and in China, now the world’s leading fur exporter, millions of animals who are killed for their fur are often skinned alive, according to the campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

A Peta spokesman said: ‘Britain is a nation of animal lovers and more than 90 per cent of Britons refuse to wear fur. We hope that Her Majesty will choose to wear something more humane in future, that better reflects the values of the British people.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Should the Queen “set a good example”? Sure. They’re doing great things with faux fur (I have a faux snow leopard hoodie that the Queen can borrow!), and it would be cool to see the Queen embrace faux fur. Also – we have no proof that she’s wearing real fur, you know? Sure, it looks like real fur, and it probably is. But I await the Queen’s official statement, I’m just saying.

Warning: thinking about this stuff may bother you
Yesterday we heard that Tommy Lee had sent a letter to Sea World accusing them of using cow vaginas filled with hot water to masturbate their captive male killer whales in order to collect their sperm. It was disturbing to say the least, and put some pictures in my head that won’t be easily forgotten. Lee was advocating for the release of Tilikum, a killer whale who has killed three people, including a female trainer earlier this year. In his letter, he accused Sea World of lying when they said that no one was in direct contact with the whale, and claimed that Sea World was still collecting sperm from Tilikum through divers using that bizarre method. Lee admitted to getting his information from PETA, and now Sea World has responded that he was wrong and that they do no such thing.

SeaWorld is finally lashing back at Tommy Lee — claiming the rocker’s allegation that the park uses cow vaginas to “masturbate” their killer whales for sperm collection is “beyond ludicrous.”

A rep for SeaWorld tells us, “If Mr. Lee’s information on Tilikum and SeaWorld’s artificial insemination program for killer whales comes from PETA we’re not surprised that it’s wrong. PETA is as careless with facts as they are extreme in their views.”

As we first reported, Lee had fired off a letter to SeaWorld demanding they release Tilikum the orca back into the wild. In his letter, Lee also stated that he learned the “sick and twisted” info about the cow vaginas from SeaWorld’s own director of safety.

But the SeaWorld rep notes, “The process of collecting semen for [artificial insemination] doesn’t differ in any meaningful way from the techniques employed in managing livestock or other species for zoological display.”

“Contrary to the charges made by PETA and repeated in Lee’s letter, our trainers do not now nor have they ever entered the water with Tilikum for this purpose. The safety of SeaWorld staff and the welfare of our animals are our highest priorities.”

The rep adds, “Whatever his views on SeaWorld, Mr. Lee would be wise to spend more time checking his facts.

[From TMZ]

Ironically, the whale’s name is pronounced “Til-a-come.” Thankfully Tilikum seems to be taking care of business on his own and without a diver’s help. I’m so sorry for making you think of this. All joking aside, the fact that the whale has killed three people is enough to prove Lee’s point that it should not be in captivity. It’s hard to tell what they should do with the creature, though, as it may not be able to fend for itself again in the wild.

Photo credit: WENN.com

Warning: the above video shows an animal being killed. If this bothers you, please do not watch it

Yesterday in our story on Kate Gosselin’s miserable attitude while camping with Sarah Palin I mentioned that Palin was shown hunting and killing a caribou in the episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” that aired on Sunday. (The Kate Gosselin episode will air this coming Sunday, I was initially confused about that.) You can watch the video of Palin killing the caribou above. Palin was out with her father hunting, and she enthused about how much better she felt after she shot the animal, saying that “when you see that you have a successful hit, it’s a great feeling of accomplishment.” She also said a few words about the animal, “In the words of Ted Nugent, we thank that mighty animal for livin’ a good life, now sustaining a nice family.” She narrated afterwards that “I’m always really happy when I do get an animal because usually my dad is by my side when I’m hunting, it’s like ‘see dad I listened to what you said and I learned something and we accomplished it together.’”

Here’s how I feel about this, and I’ll just get this out of the way. I’m not a hunter, I don’t come from a family that hunts, and my parents are vegetarians. However, I eat meat so I feel I have no room to complain. I understand that animals in factory farming conditions are treated abhorrently, as many of you pointed out in the comments yesterday. At least hunting usually kills them quickly and humanely while they’re in the wild. Is it fair to the defenseless animals? No. Neither is living in terrible factory farming conditions. Hunting is a cultural thing as well, and maybe if my family or friends hunted I would feel differently about it.

PETA has of course chimed in about this scene, and they’re somewhat smug as usual. It’s all to be expected but at least they didn’t go on about it. And also typical is Sarah Palin (her ghostwriter’s) defense of including that hunting footage, in which she calls out anyone who would criticize her for it.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) vice president Dan Mathews released a statement to Fancast sharing his thoughts.

“Sarah seems to think that resorting to violence and blood and guts may lure people into watching her boring show. But the ratings remain as dead as the poor animals she shoots,” the statement said.

Palin, for her part, guessed that the show might make waves and issued several statements of her own on Facebook and Twitter–before the show even aired. “Tonight’s hunting episode ‘controversial’?” she wrote on her Facebook page Sunday. “Really? Unless you’ve never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation of tonight’s episode. I remain proudly intolerant of anti-hunting hypocrisy.”

[From Popeater]

She’s egging people on, she has a formula and it usually works for her. Case in point.

Much more amusing are the hunters chiming in on how Sarah came across in that scene – like an amateur! I know nothing about hunting but all this cracks me up given how she’s trying to portray herself.

In this most recent episode, a woman who has blindly championed the NRA and legitimized her frontier-woman status by claiming to be a “lifelong hunter” comes across as anything but.

For starters, Palin and pa head out on a long hunt without bothering to sight in Palin’s rifle, a mistake no serious hunter would ever make. Why Palin’s dad chose for her a “varmint rifle” for a caribou hunt and why Palin, an admitted “moose hunter,” would not question such a gun’s appropriateness is never answered.

From there, numerous bungles along the way to finally downing the caribou show a hunting tourist who, at worst, appears to pose a genuine danger to fellow outdoorsmen.

On Palin’s own Facebook page, a viewer wrote, “What a joke. I was a fan before the show. No one who is a true hunter lets others carry their rifle or can’t load their own shells. Sarah, you are a phony in this area of your ‘skills.”

Several others wondered why Palin, an experienced hunter, didn’t bring her own rifle, pointing out that familiarity with one’s weapon is a core principle of hunting. Another pointed out, regarding Palin’s veteran hunter dad, “I was surprised to see him using the gun as a walking stick.”

Several hunter friends to whom I showed the video were less than impressed. All agreed that she did not look like she had handled a gun many times. One, who just posted his November kill on his Facebook profile, said “I would not hunt with her.”

In the episode, Palin is handed a second gun, which, thanks to good video editing, she uses to down the animal in one shot.

But knowledgeable hunters would have all recoiled in horror watching Palin immediately place her finger on the trigger of the “hot” Savage 110 as it was handed to her. Keeping one’s finger off the trigger until the very moment of the shot is the first lesson any responsible hunter ever learns.

[From TheAwl.com via WeSmirch]

It actually goes on with even more examples that show Sarah Palin doesn’t know how to hunt or handle a firearm. What’s more is that she wore camouflage instead of recommended hunter orange. Isn’t it funny that people on both sides of the hunting issue aren’t impressed?

This story comes via Gawker, and it’s slightly complicated because there’s some back-and-forth and some history to it. Basically, British singer and former Smiths front-man Morrissey is a racist douche. What’s interesting is that he has no plans to apologize for being a racist douche, or for his sketchy history of racist comments, and that his fans probably still love him.

So, in an interview with this weekend’s Guardian Magazine (UK), Morrissey began talking about animal rights (he’s a big animal rights guy), and how pissed he was that China still has a pretty terrible animal rights record. This is part of what he said:

Morrissey, a vegetarian and animal rights advocate who last year abandoned the stage at the Coachella festival in California because of the smell of cooking meat, described the treatment of animals in China as “absolutely horrific”, referring to recent news stories about animals in Chinese circuses and zoos. He told interviewer Simon Armitage: “Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can’t help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies.”

[From The Guardian]

That’s right, a “subspecies.” This is not Morrissey’s first brush with race-tingled comments:

In 1992 NME Magazine accused Morrissey of “flirting with disaster” and racist imagery after wrapping himself in the union flag while on stage in Finsbury Park, north London.

In the same year, the singer, now 51, was quoted in Q Magazine stating that he did not want to be “horrible or pessimistic” but he didn’t “really think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other. I don’t really think they ever will.” While in 1994 he told Select magazine that the National Front should be given a clear voice or platform in order for them to be “less of a threat”.

The war of words with NME continued in 2007 after Morrissey, who lived in Rome at the time, was quoted in an interview with the magazine apparently criticising levels of immigration after being asked if he would ever consider moving back to England. “With the issue of immigration, it’s very difficult because, although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears,” he said. “If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won’t hear an English accent. You’ll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent.”

At another point in the interview he stated: “England is a memory now. The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in.”

[From The Guardian]

During those past incidents, Morrissey apologized or revamped his comments, claiming he was misunderstood or misquoted, or that he didn’t really mean anything. In 2008, he even donated about $40,000 to Love Music Hate Racism as a way to apologize for the comments about England. That organization, LMHR, is now bashing Morrissey for the “subspecies” comment.

A spokesman for Love Music Hate Racism, which received a donation of £28,000 from the singer in 2008 after his apparently anti-immigration comments made in music magazine NME convulsed the media, said it would be unable to accept support from Morrissey again if he did not rescind or dispute today’s comments.

“It really is just crude racism,” said Martin Smith. “When you start using language like ‘subspecies’, you are entering into dark and murky water. I don’t think we would, or could, ask him to come back after that.”

[From The Guardian]

And Morrissey doesn’t seem to be in a mood to retract the “subspecies” comment either. The interviewer notes that “I thought at the time it was a dangerous thing to say into a tape recorder. He must have known it would make waves, he’s not daft. But he’s provocative and theatrical, and it was one of dozens of dramatic pronouncements. I’m not an apologist for that kind of remark, and couldn’t ignore it. But clearly, when it comes to animal rights and animal welfare, he’s absolutely unshakable in his beliefs. In his view, if you treat an animal badly, you are less than human. I think that was his point.”

And Morrissey offered this statement in the wake of The Guardian’s interview: “If anyone has seen the horrific and unwatchable footage of the Chinese cat and dog trade – animals skinned alive – then they could not possibly argue in favour of China as a caring nation. There are no animal protection laws in China and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible.”

Of course, Morrissey also had some other lovely things to say. On “people” he says, “They are problems.” On being a lonely prig, he says, “We’re all lonely, but I’d rather be lonely by myself than with a long list of duties and obligations. I think that’s why people kill themselves, really. Or at least that’s why they think, ‘Thank heaven for death.’” And on the subject of cats, he says, “Yes. Cats. I’ve had lots of cats. But also many bereavements.”

Just to be clear, and offer my own opinion: I think Morrissey’s comments are reprehensible, and the fact that he’s sticking by them is even worse. If his point was to raise awareness about the lack of animal rights in China, he failed. Morrissey and his racism are now the topic. While I understand the anger he feels as an animal rights activist, referring to one billion Chinese people as a “subspecies” is f-cking horrible, and reminiscent of ye olde racist arguments that there is a genetic/evolutionary argument to be made to defend one’s racism. Now, I prefer animals to people as well, but I don’t care enough to break up my dislike of people based into “subspecies” and “not that deplorable, also: white.”

Morrissey performing in Ireland and California in 2009. Credit: WENN.

My first reaction when I saw these beautiful Bulgari ads, starring none other than that magnificent, flame-haired bitch Julianne Moore is “aww…” Who can see past the adorable lion cubs to actually check out the merchandise? And I mean “merchandise” as in “Julianne’s firecrotch”. Julianne has been the face of Bulgari’s full 2010 line, from their Spring and Summer collections, to these ads for Fall and Winter. The ads were shot by photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Is Julianne retouched? She looks a little frozen, but I don’t think it’s Bo to the ‘Tox, I think it’s just some ‘Shop. Guess how old Julianne is? Forty-f-cking-nine. Magnificent!

Frockwriter cleverly refers to these ads as “Bulgari’s LOLCats”. But they also mention in passing that PETA hasn’t said anything about this yet. Now, I doubt these lion cubs were abused or mistreated in anyway – except maybe that one missed his nap? Aw… and is it really appropriate to use these little babies as glorified beaver-covers. I mean, it’s ART! But I digress. You just know PETA will have something to say. Yes, I’m baiting them. I want a chance to use these adorable ads again.

By the way, Julianne is out and about promoting her role in the already critically-acclaimed independent film The Kids Are Alright. It’s about a lesbian couple (played by Moore and Annette Benning) who have kids via the baster, and when the kids want to know who their biological father is, they track him down – and it’s Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo’s character enters their lives, and chaos ensues. Here’s a good Julianne Moore interview, and here’s Lainey at LaineyGossip raving about the film.

Ads courtesy of HuffPo.

Elle Macpherson is getting slammed by international animal-rights groups for a recent interview she gave to the Times Online. She was asked about her interest in Chinese medicine, and she described the taste and effect of powdered/crushed rhino horn. Rhinos are on the verge of extinction, mind you – mainly because they are being poached for their horns, which are extremely valuable in Asia and to select, ignorant rich bitches:

Witter: You’re said to be a great fan of Chinese medicine. What does powdered rhino horn taste like?
E MacP: A little bit like crushed bone and fungus in a capsule. Does the job though.

Witter: How do you know that it works? A lot of people say Chinese medicine is quackery.
E MacP: Put it this way, works for me.

Witter: Did you find your nickname “The Body” offensive? Sexist?
E MacP: Brilliant name. I trademarked it and built a business out of it. What part of that is sexist?

Witter: What’s the secret of running a successful business?
E MacP: I reckon the secret is passion. We’ve become a global brand, 300 doors in 11 countries during a recession.

Witter: Are you tired of the press? Is it anyone’s business whether you wear a cycling helmet?
E MacP: I’m sure I’ll be slammed again this summer for riding my bike around Notting Hill with a child perched on the handlebars.

Witter: We’ve also been treated to pictures of your cellulite.
E MacP: Thank you! What cellulite?

Witter: What would you have done for a living if you’d been born plug-ugly?
E MacP: Probably just the same thing. Right, little boy waiting at school gate without Mummy. Not a good look.

[From The Times Online]

The envirnomentalist site Mongabay details what’s wrong with thinking that Elle’s “it works for me” attitude is deluded and nasty. On the site, they also include a graphic, disturbing photo of a rhino slowly dying after his horn has been cut off (WARNING – photo here).

The consumption of rhino horn, which financially underpins illegal poaching, is both the historic and current driver behind rhino decline worldwide, and in the cases of four subspecies: complete extinction.

As well, currently four of the world’s five rhino species are threatened with extinction, three of these species are considered Critically Endangered. There are less than 50 adult Java rhinos in the world and less than 250 adult Sumatran rhinos.

Poaching hit a 15-year-high last year to keep up with demand for rhino horn. Poachers usually shoot or tranquilize the animal before sawing off its horn. Rhinos often die from bleeding to death.

However poaching doesn’t only impact rhinos, rangers who protect them are sometimes in the line of fire: last month a ranger in India was kidnapped by a group of poachers and murdered with two bullets in his stomach.

Powdered rhino horn, such as Elle MacPherson uses, is not cheap: last year one kilo was worth approximately $60,000, nearly $20,000 more than a kilo of gold.

While there have been discussions of legalizing the trade in order to draw down the price of rhino horn and use the proceeds for conservation, for now the sale or purchase of rhino horn products is banned worldwide by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

[From Mongabay]

So basically, Elle probably takes it because it’s expensive and she thinks it’s awesome to kill off an endangered species so she won’t have laugh lines. I guess she never heard of face cream? Seriously, why? Why go out of your way to buy crushed rhino horn powder to increase your health?

Elle on June 30, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Brooke Shields, who starred in that recent POS kids’ film, Furry Vengeance, loves fur so much that she made a custom fur coat at a Copenhagen studio. She also gave some confusing quotes praising fur. It’s all for cash, though, and we know that Brooke will endorse basically anything. I realize that no animals are going to go medieval on her ass and stage a forest revolt ripped off from Home Alone but I can dream. Now I’m getting flashbacks of that movie I was actively trying to forget, and I’ll never forgive Shields for that.

Brooke Shields visited Denmark in March to act out her ‘little girl’s dream’: to design her own fur coat. The Hollywood star is thrilled with Kopenhagen Fur.

“Wearing fur may be associated with something grandmotherish. Something you wear when you visit the opera, or if you are a rock star and wears it inside out. But I will advocate that both my generation and the younger generation can wear fur“, says Brooke Shields.

The comment fell as the American actress visited Kopenhagen Fur’s creative workshop, Kopenhagen Studio early in March. Here she began designing her own mink coat made of the best Danish fur skins. Brooke Shields chose to work with the short-haired, black mink.

“Brooke Shields will be proud to be an exponent of the beautiful Danish fur skins in the U.S. She thinks that Kopenhagen Fur is very unique”, says Kopenhagen Studio’s Partnership & Alliance manager Natia Linneman and adds that the star has been intrigued by the way Kopenhagen Fur is organized and how the company centrally supports disease control and quality on fur farms etc…

The visit of Brooke Shields, who at the age of 15 became famous for her leading part in the movie The Blue Lagoon, was arranged in February during New York Fashion Week, where Kopenhagen Fur, in cooperation with the design house J. Mendel, had a major event in the city. J. Mendel also helps Brooke Shields to design her coat.

“I will wear the fur garment when I follow my children to school, when I drink coffee and when I sleep“, says Brooke Shields, who calls it a little girl’s dream to be able to design her own fur garment.

[From International Fur Trade Federation website via D-Listed]

I really hope they paid her for this and didn’t just comp her visit to Denmark and give her some fur swag. Her people should have signed of on those quotes because they’re worded like only a non-native English speaker would phrase them. “I will wear the fur garment when I follow my children to school” makes it sound like Brooke is this crazy homeless woman stalking some grade schoolers in a tattered fur coat, babbling about how it’s her precious. (Yes, Michael K at D-Listed said essentially the same thing, but I like to think that I would have come up with that on my own although that’s probably not the case.) Now that’s what I think of when I hear about fur, crazy homeless old ladies and stinky moth balls. Even rich semi-old ladies wearing “new” fur makes me think of down on their luck homeless people, like fur is this monkey paw type curse that brings you warmth and the illusion of wealth and leaves you with nothing in the end.