That may not be Santa Claus you last-minute shoppers see at South Coast Plaza this afternoon but members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Activists dressed like Kris Kringle will not be trying to draw attention to the miserable working conditions for flying reindeer but animals who are skinned, sheared or mutilated for their fashionable hides.
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The PETAns say they will greet shoppers and hand out candy canes with tags reading, “Be Sweet to Animals: Don't Buy Fur, Leather, or Wool.”
“Shoppers can find faux fur, pleather and other stylish alternatives to animal skins everywhere, from Santa Claus Lane to 34th Street,” explains PETA “Santa” Heather Faraid. “We're asking people to give everyone–including animals–a reason to celebrate this holiday season.”
Look for them inside the Costa Mesa mall in front of Macy's starting at noon today.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.