Two members of PETA Asia Pacific hijacked a fur seminar at Hong Kong Fashion Week today to ensure that attendees got the animals’ side of the story as well. Here’s what PETA Asia Pacific’s Rebecca Chui had to say about it:

“We want the Fashion Week attendees to know that fur means cruelty to animals. They suffer terrible pain from the time they are caught. Some of them are skinned alive. Some are killed by poisoning, gassing or anal or vaginal electrocution. We are in the 21st century and there is fur substitute now. There's no excuse to kill any more animals.”

Asked for comment on this statement, the Hong Kong Fur Federation called it “extremely regrettable”—by which I can only assume they meant “bad for business.” Which, well, fair enough. I can’t imagine that they would have chosen these images themselves to represent their nasty little promotional event in the international media:

Australian supermodel Imogen Bailey has helped us with numerous campaigns over the years, speaking out on issues as diverse as the fur industry, rodeos, and elephants in captivity. And she’s just launched a whole new website devoted to educating people about animal rights and giving animal-lovers a forum to discuss the issues. So I wanted to give it a quick shout out: You can check out Imogen Bailey’s ImForAnimals here. But before you go, have a look at this stunning ad she made to let people know about the cruelty behind rodeos. You’re a star, Imogen.

Powerlineblog/Creative Commons

It doesn’t always work out like this—but every now and then, when you let someone know that what they’re doing sucks, they just listen to your concerns, think about the issue in a new way, and make a positive change. When you spend your days dealing with people like Beyonce Knowles, who can sit and watch footage of animals being skinned alive as if it were the latest episode of Total Request Live, it’s incredibly refreshing to hear a story like this one about Miss Universe:

Apparently, after receiving a letter this week from PETA Asia Pacific’s Jason Baker, which explained (in gory detail) exactly how fur coats are made, Miss Universe, aka Riyo Mori, has agreed to stop wearing the stuff. We’re still waiting for confirmation from her that she’s gotten the message loud and clear, but this news sounds really promising.

Now, if the woman officially recognized as the hottest chick in the entire universe can do her stuff without draping herself in dead animals, you’d think a cheap fur-hag like Beyonce could figure out that you can have a killer look without actually killing anything. You’d think.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that piece of good news from The Philippines. I’ll let you know once we get confirmation from Miss U that she really has given up fur for good.