PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) recently donated two hundred 2nd hand fur coats to a charity known as The Family Aid of Iceland to be distributed to homeless people around the island. PETA spokesperson Sonul Badiani-Hamment, said that as there are only 200 homeless people in Iceland PETA wanted to help them all donate a fur to each homeless individual on the island according to RUV’s report. However, in order to prevent the fur coats from being sold by their new owners, they are sprayed with pink paint.
The donation and the method to spray-paint the furs and blotch them in pink has received mixed responses in Iceland. On social media there are talks about “branding the poor with pink” and people are calling out to each other that everyone should stain their overcoats with pink paint, in solidarity with the homeless. People seem shocked that the fur coats are sprayed in pink, they see it as labelling the individuals who accept the furs as poor.
Each year, thousands of second hand fur coats are donated to PETA, which advocates the protection of animals and has fought against the fur industry for years. Poor people the world over have benefitted from the donations, including recent donations to Syrian refugees. The coats in Iceland are to be delivered today in Reykjavik and on Thursday in the town of Reykjanesbaer, and the rest is to be shipped outside the greater Reykjavik area.