Christmas Day brought in some trouble for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II when she wore one of her favorite fur coats on the special occasion. The choice of material has riled up animal rights groups which termed it as a cruel and uncivilized move, Indo-Asian News Service reported.
The fur coat was spotted as the Queen greeted her granddaughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, at her country estate in Sandringham for the royal family's festive celebrations.
"The Queen should not be wearing fur - it's as simple as that. This is 2013 and no right-thinking person would wear fur," Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid charity, told the Daily Mirror. "Fur is now unfashionable amongst right minded people. People know how cruel it is to get fur. It's cruel and uncivilized."
The particular coat has been worn by the Queen on several occasions dating back to 1961 - when she embarked on her royal tour of India, IANS reported.
A campaign has been launched to give homeless people unwanted fur coats this Christmas by the charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which is known to splash color on fur coats as a protest against its unethical association with animal cruelty.
"We donate any coats that we don't cover in fake blood for a demonstration to homeless people who can't afford to buy their own coats - after all, the homeless are the only people who have any excuse for wearing fur," a spokesperson said. "How can Queen Elizabeth - who had to be taught why people loved Diana, a non-hunting, fur-free vegetarian - not yet have learned what's right and wrong and abandoned fur, the product of immense suffering.
"Animals are routinely strangled, electrocuted and skinned alive for their pelts. Fur farming was banned in 2000 because it's a cruel industry that no longer represents British values. We truly hope that the Queen gets with these more enlightened times and chooses to wear something more humane in the future," he said.
By the time the Queen attended the traditional Christmas Day church service in the east England country of Norfolk, she had changed out of the coat, IANS reported.
