British shark protester suspended from ceiling by hooks

British shark protester suspended from ceiling by hooks

1 day ago

LONDON (AFP) — A British woman was suspended from the ceiling of a London shop by hooks put through her skin, in protest Wednesday against the practice of slicing fins from sharks and throwing them back into the ocean alive.

Spectators gasped as blood trickled down the back of 26-year-old performance artist Alice Newstead, but she insisted it did not hurt.

"I am doing this because the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out the shark population," said Newstead, who used to work in the Lush cosmetics store in the capital's upmarket Regent Street.

"I have had my torso, legs, arms, stomach and knees pierced before so that I could hang from them, so this is no big deal.

"Being hung from the chest is more painful than the back because it restricts your breathing, but as long as the piercer knows what they are doing then it is completely safe."

The stunt, which lasted for 15 minutes and attracted a crowd of shoppers, was organised by Lush and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in protest at the practice of finning, where sharks are impaled on hooks before their fins are hacked off.

Also on Tuesday, environmental campaigners gathered outside the Japanese embassy in London to demonstrate against the country's hunting of dolphins.

Yuck.

Paul C

http://www.seashepherd.org/longline/LUSH_video.html

heres some footage.

fair play to Lush and Sea Shepherd. my local store was sold out.

So it's publicity stunt for fund raising. Btw, our own Shawn Heinrich's clips were used in that video by sea shepherd and lush.

That particular kind of stunt is just nasty and does nothing to focus me on sharks but rather on how sick that person must be. In no way would I involve my children either in viewing or visiting that either which is sad because the idea of shark conservation is correct but the means used in this stunt was just plain gross.

Well I think the idea was to draw the parallel of finning sharks being gross and disgusting like hanging some woman by the skin of her back. Personally I think shock stunts like these only drive the public away, but the uber-chic who look for a cause will buy loads of soap to fill coffers, which is the point of this exercise.

Thats got to hurt....