To many animal advocates, the day after Thanksgiving has long been known as “Fur-Free Friday.” Compassionate people have held demonstrations, used donated fur coats as bedding for injured or orphaned wildlife, given unwanted furs to homeless people—the only ones with any legitimate excuse for wearing fur—and much more. But now that nearly every top designer has shunned fur and countries are shutting down fur farms, sparing fur-bearing animals, more and more people are starting to consider other “fashion victims,” including sheep, who are abused and exploited for their wool.
Sheep’s wool, like foxes’ fur, is not “fabric.” It doesn’t belong to us: It’s violently stolen from its rightful owners. Starting this holiday season, let’s enjoy a wool-free winter and help prevent sheep from suffering at the hands of the wool industry.
Investigators from PETA entities, including PETA U.S., have documented violence at more than 100 wool industry operations in several countries, including Australia, Argentina, Chile, the U.K. and the U.S. Video footage shows that gentle sheep are routinely beaten, punched, jabbed, kicked, stomped on and even killed by hurried shearers, who are typically paid by volume, not by the hour, and thus tend to work as quickly as possible.
