Peta Boss Urges Student To Give Up Fur Coat In Lindsay Lohan Fuss 5/21/08

The student suing Lindsay Lohan for taking her mink coat from a New York nightclub has been asked to donate the garment to the homeless.

Anti-fur activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) want Masha Markov to give up the coat and allow them to give it to the needy. PETA boss Dan Mathews has written to Markov, explaining, "That coat belonged to dozens of animals that were electrocuted, gassed, strangled, drowned or beaten to death just so you could try to appear wealthy."

Mathews suggests Markova watch an anti-fur video hosted by former fur-wearer Martha Stewart and then donate the fur, which was a gift from the student's grandmother, to the homeless.

Meanwhile, Markova stands to win significant damages if a jury finds the coat mix-up is criminal in nature. The student's fur, priced at $12,000 (GBP6,000), was taken from a nightclub in January (08) and returned to her by the venue's bosses a month later after she spotted Lohan wearing the garment in a magazine photo.

Her lawyer Merrill R. Cohen tells Eonline.com, "We got the coat back, but it's not sufficient. She had the coat for several weeks. You don't just return it and that's that." He claims the coat was returned with a tear in the lining and was stained. But Lohan's publicist says, "This is crazy! The bombing of Lindsay has to stop."