Media Release

25 June 2004; for immediate use

SPOON IT LIKE BECKHAM

David Beckham's spectacular penalty miss against Portugal on Thursday night was greeted by animal campaigning group Viva! as poetic justice for his endorsement of cruelly-produced kangaroo leather boots. Beckham's Adidas Predators are made from the skins of kangaroos shot in the wild. Viva! campaigns against the kangaroo trade as cruel, ecologically-unwise and unnecessary.
 
Each year, hunters are licensed to shoot millions of adult kangaroos for their meat and skins. Baby 'joeys' - worthless to the industry - are ripped from their dead mothers' pouches and bludgeoned, decapitated or simply abandoned to die of starvation and neglect. Australia has recently suffered one of the worst droughts on record and bush fires have decimated kangaroo numbers, yet the kangaroo industry continues to shoot unabated.
 
The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia recently confirmed the link between sports shoe manufacturers and the kangaroo massacre by stating: "This [soccer boot] industry is vital to the kangaroo industry. Without it underpinning kangaroo skin prices the entire industry would be at risk". With 70 per cent of the market for professional football boots, Adidas is the driving force behind the slaughter. Despite the fact that rival sporting goods company Nike produces a 100 per cent synthetic boot worn by world class players such as Ruud Van Nistelrooy, and even Adidas itself produce synthetic boots, Adidas insists on using kangaroo skin to make several models of sports shoe.
 
Viva! campaigner Justin Kerswell said: "Beckham's Predators didn't stop him from embarrassing himself and the whole of England with a spectacular misfire which spooned the football high above the goalpost on Thursday night, essentially sending us crashing out of Euro 2004. Perhaps it was poetic justice: millions of kangaroos die to produce blood-stained football boots - like those produced by Adidas, endorsed by Beckham and bought by punters thinking the magic will rub off on them. There is no magic - just kangaroos suffering ugly, violent and unnecessary deaths. Surely now it's time for Beckham to stop endorsing these boots and the cruel trade that goes with them."
 
Notes for Editors: Images of kangaroos and kangaroo shooting are available from Viva!.
 
Contact: Justin Kerswell on 0117 944 1000
 
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