Now, I’m not some crazy animal activist. I eat meat. It’s delicious. Plus, I’m from Texas and I think a steak dinner was my first meal out of the womb. But do I go out of my way to eat farm-raised animals? Of course. Watching Food Inc. will change a person.
Have I committed to never going to Sea World again, and publicly shunning people who swim with dolphins when they go to the tropics? Naturally. The Cove will bring you to your knees in tears. And then to your feet in anger. Plus, I can think of nothing cooler than to have Ric O’Barry as my grandpa.
BUT I’m not “crazy” per se.
However-
Barry and I were wandering the Champs Elysees in Paris and moseyed into the Hermes store, where we spied a crocodile jacket for 68,000 EUROS. Not dollars. For a jacket. And we found out the reason this jacket is so expensive, is because the crocodile skin is flawless.
How is it flawless, you ask?
Well, because these crocodiles are raised from birth on marble floors, with their claws clipped at all times so they never mar their skin. Since they are such aggressive animals, they are also kept in solitude. Their entire lives. Because they will inevitably fight with each other, which means scratches and scars, which means Hermes can’t charge 68,000 Euros for a jacket.
WTF?
I was being told this story like it was the daily special at a restaurant. It made my skin crawl. My visuals of this sordid crocodile world are pretty grim. I guess it just astounds me what humans are capable of doing to another living being in general, much less for something as inconsequential as fashion. It gave me this dull ache in my chest and a lingering “why?” that never seems to go away these days…
Erin's Guide to Living 