---

Body-Painted Former Baywatch Beauty Says, 'Exotic Skins Belong in the Jungle—Not in Your Closet'

For Immediate Release:

21 June, 2001

Contact:

Jason Baker (0) 98201 22602

Mumbai – Gena Lee Nolin, famous for giving TV audiences an eyeful on Baywatch, reveals even more of herself in PETA's first ad targeting the exotic skin trade. Curling up on a tree limb that seems to be in the wilds of Jim Corbett National Park instead of a Hollywood studio, Nolin, who spent seven hours being painted from head to toe, looks like an exotic snake.

'Even if you don't think snakes or crocodiles are cute and cuddly, try to remember that they feel pain just like any other animal,' says Nolin.

Every snakeskin bag, shoe or jacket sold in a trendy boutique comes with a high price—and it's paid by animals who are ripped from their jungle homes and cruelly killed. Snakes and other reptiles are often skinned alive, then left to suffer for hours, or even days, until they die. Talk about fashion victims!

'Exotic' animals such as alligators are factory-farmed for their skins. Ranched alligators are kept in tiny structures—with up to 600 inhabiting one building—which reek of rancid meat, alligator waste and stagnant water. Although alligators may naturally live up to 60 years, on farms they are usually butchered before their fourth birthday. Alligators on farms are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. Snakes and lizards are often skinned alive because of the widespread belief that live flaying imparts suppleness to the finished leather.

Nolin suggests that people who want to emulate exotic animals' cool looks try one of today's hot fakes, such as pleather. Hot designers Rohit Bal, Marc Bouwer, Todd Oldham and Stella McCartney are among those who never use animal skins. At fashion boutiques like Rinaldi Designs you can find handbags, belts and shoes in synthetic 'python', 'lizard' and 'crocodile' skin.

'This is the Year of the Snake,' Nolin says. 'So, let's celebrate—by not killing them.'

For more information, about PETA check out www.PETAIndia.com or write to us at P.O. Box 28260, Juhu, Mumbai 400 049.