Ksubi’s “animal torture” scandal

ksubi-biginnjapanThe Ksubi boys love publicity stunts; one year it was rats at fashion week and just last week at their BIG in Japan it was homing pigeons. But it all went awry. Big in Japan is a collaboration between the Ksubi boys and Kirin to showcase an experimental series of digital art by Japanese and Australian artists, but it was the entertainment on the night that stole the headlines and had the Sunday Telegraph dub the scandal as “animal torture”.

Australian fashion blogger Hayley Hughes wrote on her blog:

Japanese dance/art troop “Kathy” cruelly cooped up some doves in mesh, later in the evening accidentally killing a bird (maybe more than 1?) as they performed in and around the net! Their performance consisted of flashing lights, loud music/explosions and throwing confetti, all things that would frighten a poor bird. Why this was allowed to go on I have no idea, anyone with some common sense would see how cruel and inhumane it was.

She goes on to write that party goers went into their net and held the birds like toy guns and frightening them for fun. The Royal Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) told the Sunday Telegraph that they are investigating claims of cruelty to animals with several birds still stuck in the high roof of the Carriageworks location when drunken revellers released them from the netting, not realising that the birds weren’t wild.

The pigeons’ handler, Tamara Baker told the Telegraph that Carriageworks had told her it might bring in pest controllers to shoot the birds.

“I’m really upset. The birds weren’t injured during the event, but the animal cruelty occurred when drunken revellers let the birds out of their enclosure,” said Baker.

There has been no word from Ksubi on the matter but it was revealed that they paid AUD$600 (USD$550) for 40 pigeons while Ksubi fans have lashed out at the brand on fashion forms.

The story is developing…

Meanwhile for more images check out Hayley’s blog, Fashion Hayley,  or Yvan ‘The Facehunter’ Rodic’s blog.

[Image via Fashion Haley]

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