Hayden Panettiere: Animal - and Leather - Lover
Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere is stir up some controversy with animal rights organizations and bloggers. Recently, she collaborated with fashion brand Dooney & Bourke to design the “Hayden Clutch,” which is a calfskin and leather purse.
Now if you follow your animal-loving celebrities, you’ll know that this use of animal product seems to conflict with Hayden’s moral beliefs. She’s a vegetarian. She is also a strong, outspoken, and highly active voice for 
Save the Whales Again.
So why chose to promote calfskin?
While I 100 percent disagree with her choice to use any animal products, I also have to point out that, although she has been in the animal-loving limelight lately, she is not, and never claimed to be, a vegan. She is a vegetarian, and, by definition, only refrains from eating animal flesh.
Interestingly, earlier today I happened upon the Wikipedia page for “cruelty to animals.” It reminded me that there are more distinctions to be made besides just vegetarian or vegan within the animal rights realm. Here’s a snippet:
The animal welfare position holds that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animals for human purposes, such as food, clothing, entertainment, and research, but that it should be done in a humane way that reduces unnecessary suffering. Animal rights theorists criticize this position, arguing that the words “unnecessary” and “humane” are subject to widely differing interpretations, and that the only way to ensure protection for animals is to end their status as property, and to ensure that they are never used as commodities.
So while Miss Panettiere has a big heart, specifically for whales and dolphins, she is, alas, neither a vegan nor an animal rights believer. Thus she has no problem promoting a calfskin clutch for which we cannot accurately call her actions contradictory or hypocratic. She, and others like her, support animal welfare - not animal rights. There is a difference.
Animal rights believers can and should, however, reach out to politely educate her, as PETA is already doing.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Thanks for the blog! We at PETA love to educate celebrities (and regular people) about animal welfare. Hopefully Hayden reconsiders her stance on leather. You can see more celebrity vegetarian testimonials here: http://veggietestimonial.peta.org/index.aspx