Animal rights group protests outside Matlock shop

Members of Derby Animal Rights (DAR) gathered outside Spinderella, in Dale Road, on Saturday to protest against the shop’s sale of vintage fur clothing.

The protestors were outside the shop from around 11am to 3pm using a loudspeaker to get passers by attention and collecting signatures on a petition calling for the shop to stop selling fur.

Joanne Crowley, who manages the clothing side of the business, said: “I don’t see why I shouldn’t sell it when it’s something that’s already been done. We’re just recycling a product.”

She said she didn’t sell any fur clothing that had been made later than about 1970.

“Some of these coats are absolutely beautiful,” Joanne added. “We don’t support the modern fur trade in any shape or form, there’s no child labour involved or carbon footprint.”

She said despite the protest she had received a lot of support from customers both in the shop and online.

“There are shops in Matlock that sell leather and fur and meats,” she continued. “It’s just the hypocrisy of it, they singled us out.”

Joanne said she had been approached by the DAR previously and the group had asked her to stop selling fur. She added that some individuals, not linked to the group, had been abusive on the Spinderella Facebook page and the police had been called in as a result.

Police officers were called to the protest on Saturday, however found that the group was not acting illegally so left them to it.

David Sommerville, of DAR, said the group had found peaceful protests to be an effective way of stopping shops from selling fur in the past.

He explained: “It sets a dangerous precedent because several generations have grown up with faux fur as being normal.

“If real fur gets back into fashion again there is a real danger. It was a hard fight to get fur made illegal in this country in the first place.”

David continued: “The shop is still making a profit out of animal cruelty and just personally I think it’s disrespectful to the memory of the animals that have died in a horrible way.”

He said that DAR was a peaceful group of animal rights activists and it did not have anything to do with the abuse the shop had suffered on Facebook.

David said the group may protest outside the shop again if it continues to sell fur.