'Tibetans vow to give up wearing animal furs'

Tibetan villagers living in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan have marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year by vowing to give up the wearing of animal furs and by burning those already in their possession, Radio Free Asia (RFA) said on Friday.

The February 27 decision by residents of Drangsung village in Yunnan's Dechen county is aimed at complying with the wishes of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama that Tibetans abandon the use of animal skins for clothes, a local source told RFA's Tibetan service.

"The Tibetans had kept animal skin clothes as rare and valuable family possessions," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"However, they became aware of the objections of the Dalai Lama and of local Tibetan Buddhist leaders who advised them not to use them."

"So the Tibetans in Drangsung village came together and set their fox fur caps and dresses decorated with wild animal skins on fire," he told RFA that provides news and information to Asian countries.

The Dalai Lama first appealed in January 2006 to Tibetans living in China to protect endangered animals in Tibet and to stop using animal skins on their clothes, and many Tibetans heard his instructions via Tibetan radio broadcasts from overseas.

The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959. The Tibetan administration-in-exile is based in this northern Indian hill town.