|
immediate use
In a scathing letter to David Beckham, international campaign
group Viva! has strongly criticised the soccer star for
encouraging the largest massacre of wildlife on the planet
by continuing to promote kangaroo skin football boots.
Despite providing detailed information on the barbarity
of the massacre, including shocking video footage, Beckham
has refused to even acknowledge the international campaign
and has continued to add to his personal fortune by signing
a new deal with soccer boot manufacturers, Adidas.
This year in Australia, 4.4 million adult kangaroos will
be commercially shot for the meat and leather industries.
Baby ‘joeys’ – useless by products of
this barbaric industry – are dragged from their dead
mothers’ pouches and killed by being stamped on,
bludgeoned with iron pipes or decapitated.
Beckham – the world’s highest earning footballer
- has signed a deal with Adidas to extend his contract
with them until 2008. He recently unveiled a new personal
logo for the firm and has enthusiastically promoted the
new Predator Pulse football boot, which is made from kangaroo
skin. Any boost in sales will accelerate the bloodshed
in Australia – and may even lead to the extinction
of the country’s national symbol. A severe drought
has led to a collapse in numbers and a report leaked to
the Australian press reveals that the Government now admits
that the annual cull is unsustainable. There are no longer
enough kangaroos to satisfy the demands of the killing
industry.
“Does David Beckham really need money so badly
that he’s prepared to endorse the world’s biggest
wildlife massacre?” says Viva! campaigner, Justin
Kerswell. “A combination of drought and commercial
greed is in danger of showing Australia’s national
symbol a red card – likely extinction. Beckham happily
accepts Australian government assurances that everything
is fine and continues to kick the world’s wildlife
when it’s down. I wonder if he knows that those responsible
for advising the Government are entirely funded by the
kangaroo industry. It’s like giving Esso responsibility
for the Kyoto Agreement”.
A copy of Viva!’s letter to David Beckham follows.
For further information on Viva!’s campaign to stop
the kangaroo killing, go to
www.savethekangaroo.com or call 0117 944 1000.
Mr David Beckham
c/o Real Madrid Club de Futbol
Concha Espina 1
28036 Madrid
Espania
11 May 2004
Dear David
Viva! was saddened to hear that you have chosen to extend
your contract to promote the Adidas brand until 2008.
We have written to you on a number of occasions about
the use of kangaroo leather in the football boots which
you promote (the Adidas Predator line). As you must be
aware by now that a million baby kangaroos a year are killed
or left to die when their mothers are shot to provide the
leather from which your boots are made. Every pair of kangaroo
skin boots which are sold encourages this cruelty. You
claim to have assisted in the creation of the new Predator
Pulse boot – what a shame you didn’t stick
to the original designer’s intentions and use cruelty-free,
artificial materials. They’re good enough for Ronaldo,
who wears synthetic boots and still manages to dazzle the
world.
By continuing to wear the Predator boot, and launching
your own signature brand for the company, you have the
blood of millions of butchered kangaroos on your hands
- and feet. No doubt you have been given assurances that
the trade is humane and sustainable. It is neither. We
have in the past sent you video evidence revealing the
barbarity of the slaughter and even the Australian Government
now believes that demand is outstripping supply (see press
articles enclosed). A recent severe drought has decimated
kangaroo numbers but the killing goes on.
What a tragedy that your little boys face the prospect
of never being able to see kangaroo’s in the wild.
Let’s hope they never ask you: “What did you
do to stop it, daddy?” What you could do is withdraw
you support from Adidas until they agree to use cruelty-free
alternatives to kangaroo leather.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Justin Kerswell
Campaigner
Notes for Editors: Images and footage of kangaroos and
kangaroo shooting are available from Viva!.
-ends-
|
