Arts festival organisers may ban fur ads in future guides

Hong Kong Arts Festival organisers are considering whether to ban fur advertisements in future programmes after one showing a model in mink and fox fur left animal rights groups outraged.

The advertising policy review comes after a second animal rights group complained and called for reassurances that no such adverts would be carried in future.

But the Hong Kong Fur Federation, which placed the advertisement in the booking guide of the publicly funded 2009 Hong Kong Arts Festival, said it believed the same advert would appear in the festival's next publication in December.

Members of Peta - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - also warned that the advert could prompt protests at the festival in February and March.

A second group, Animals Asia, wrote to arts festival organisers expressing concern that the festival was 'condoning the brutal fur trade' by running the advert.

Animals Asia director of animal welfare and education, Mark Jones, said he had received a letter from festival executive director Tisa Ho saying organisers were reviewing their relationship with the Hong Kong Fur Federation.

Mr Jones said: 'The cruel and exploitative practices of the fur industry have no place in the fashion or entertainment industries, and the promotion of these activities has no place in a publication promoting an arts festival.'