Le Blog du ChatMiat: 08/01/2009

jeudi 27 août 2009

Right now, in cramped, filthy cages on fur farms throughout China, millions of vulnerable animals await a painful death. It may come from strangulation by a wire noose or a knife slash across the throat.
We need your help to stop the carnage taking place on fur farms around the world, including the slaughter of nearly 2 million cats and hundreds of thousands of dogs each year in China. Donate Now The skin is then ripped off their broken and abused bodies and will be turned into fur-trimmed hats, jackets, gloves, and other items—items that you will find on the shelves of department stores this fall.

For the Chinese fur industry—one of the world's largest suppliers of animal fur—this isn't just about fur coats. The result of the suffering of animals in China may be creeping into consumers' daily lives right now, often without their even knowing it. You can help us protect animals killed for their skin and stop the fur industry in its tracks by making a special gift today to support PETA's unique and vital work to end animal abuse.

The ways that the suffering caused by the fur industry appear in the lives of otherwise compassionate consumers is insidious. It may come in the form of a toy purchased for a cat at a pet-supply store—a toy that could be made from the skin of another cat who was stolen, loaded in a crate onto a truck with thousands of other cats, forced to endure days of suffering while being transported to a slaughterhouse in northern China, and then cruelly beaten and skinned. But the label won't tell you that.

Or those little fur tassels on a pair of gloves. Those might be the fur of a German shepherd or a chow chow, who was once loved and cherished—and then was one day kidnapped and sold at the local animal market. After days without water or food and after being beaten repeatedly, the dog was painfully killed and stripped of skin. Did the label mention that?

The fur industry is so desperate to push its cruel wares that it has even stooped to lying to unsuspecting consumers, intentionally mislabeling fur garments as fake—or as coming from rabbits or other animals when they're actually from cats and dogs. The fact is that it takes expensive DNA tests to prove what kind of animal was killed to make each piece of fur trim, coat collar, glove lining, cat toy, or furry trinket. So as you can imagine, these tests are rarely, if ever, done.

PETA is leading the fight against the fur trade—both in China and worldwide—and we're making significant progress. Through our thought-provoking campaigns and groundbreaking undercover investigations, we're getting major designers and retailers like Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Liz Claiborne Inc., Polo Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger to swear off using fur in their collections. But none of what we do is possible without your support.

That's why I hope you will make a generous donation today to help us call attention to the horrors that animals killed for their skins endure and work to shut down this violent and bloody trade for good.

Together, we can help the dogs, cats, rabbits, and countless other individual animals who are suffering on fur farms in China and around the world.

Kind regards,

Ingrid Newkirk
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Even as more and more consumers reject fur, a desperate fur industry is trying come back by pushing its bloody trade through cat toys, fur trim, and other products created from the same kind of suffering that goes into every fur coat. Won't you help us stand up to this challenge and fight for all animals killed for their skin by making a tax-deductible donation right now?

samedi 22 août 2009

217 bouquinistes sur les quais parisiens

Avec leurs 900 «boîtes» et leurs 300 000 livres anciens ou contemporains, ces libraires d'un type particulier offrent aux Parisiens et aux visiteurs la plus grande librairie à ciel ouvert au monde.

La Ville de Paris, dans le cadre de son soutien au commerce culturel, a souhaité la réalisation d’une étude sur la situation des bouquinistes parisiens. Cette étude, réalisée en concertation avec eux, doit permettre de mieux connaître leurs attentes, leurs difficultés et les impératifs de leur profession, afin de dynamiser et de valoriser leur activité et d’élaborer des propositions pour leur avenir. Elle sera présentée aux bouquinistes le 19 novembre prochain par Lyne Cohen-Solal, adjointe au Maire de Paris, chargée du commerce, de l’artisanat, des professions indépendantes et des métiers d’art.
Les 217 bouquinistes et leurs 900 « boîtes » sont ouverts plusieurs jours par semaine sauf intempéries, dès 11h30 pour la plupart, et jusqu’au coucher du soleil. Ils vous offrent plus de 3 kilomètres de randonnée culturelle sur les quais de la Seine : 300 000 livres anciens ou contemporains qui ont résisté aux modes et traversé le temps, des éditions épuisées que l’on ne retrouve nulle part ailleurs, mais aussi des estampes, gravures, revues, timbres et cartes postales de collection. Rendez-vous sur la rive droite, du pont Marie au quai du Louvre et sur la rive gauche, du quai de la Tournelle au quai Voltaire.

Dès le 16e siècle, les colporteurs bouquinistes – libraires forains – parcourent les bords de la Seine, pour finalement y fixer leurs « boîtes » quelques siècles plus tard. Avec la création du Pont Neuf et l’affluence de bouquinistes de plus en plus nombreux, naissent les premières lectures publiques, accompagnées de divertissements musicaux et spectacles de plein air. Lors de l’exposition universelle de 1900, on dénombre déjà 200 bouquinistes sur les quais de la Seine.

Les bouquinistes font partie du paysage parisien, participent du charme des bords de Seine et constituent une animation, une attraction culturelle, un patrimoine littéraire et historique que la Ville souhaite préserver et mettre en valeur auprès des parisiens et des visiteurs. Ils représentent un but de promenade agréable au bord de l’eau dans un environnement architectural riche d’histoire.

Tokyo, Montréal, Québec, Ottawa, Pékin et bien d’autres se sont inspirées du modèle des bouquinistes parisiens.