Go Faux: Leather, Crocadile Skins, Wool and Feathers

"When all that glitters is not gold"

Leather can be made from cows, pigs, goats, and sheep; exotic animals such as alligators, ostriches, and kangaroos; and even dogs and cats, who are slaughtered for their meat and skin in China, which exports their skins around the world. Because leather is normally not labeled, you never really know where (or whom) it came from.

Most leather comes from developing countries such asIndia and China, where animal welfare laws are either non-existent or not enforced. In India, a PETA investigation found that workers break cows' tails and rub chili peppers and tobacco into their eyes in order to force them to get up and walk after they collapse from exhaustion on the way to the slaughterhouse.

In the U.S., many of the millions of cows and other animals who are killed for their skin endure the horrors of factory farming—extreme crowding and deprivation as well as castration, branding, tail-docking, and dehorning—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, animals routinely have their throats cut and some are even skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious.

Buying leather directly contributes to factory farms and slaughterhouses because skin is the most economically important byproduct of the meat industry. Leather is also no friend of the environment, as it shares responsibility for all the environmental destruction caused by the meat industry as well as the pollution caused by the toxins used in tanning.

With every pair of leather shoes that you buy, you sentence an animal to a lifetime of suffering. Instead, you can choose from hundreds of styles of nonleather shoes, clothing, belts, bags, and wallets. Check out PETA's cruelty-free clothing guide for great tips on where to find fashionable yet compassionateclothing. Fashion should be fun, not fatal!

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/leather-industry.aspx

Everything you need to know about why leather is cruel

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/animals-used-for-leather.aspx

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/leather-environmental-hazards.aspx

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/global-leather-trade.aspx

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/leather-and-factory-farming.aspx

Snakes

Snakes have been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and today they number more than 3,000 species. Most of the snakes who live near humans are harmless, and snake encounters are rare, thanks to snakes' keen ability to detect vibrations using their bellies and lower jaws. Their forked tongues also act like built-in radar to help them know what's going on around them.

Most snakes live underground or under rocks; some live in trees and slide around eating insects and small animals. Many snakes lay eggs that are incubated by the sun, while others, such as garter snakes and rattlesnakes, carry their eggs in their bodies and give birth to fully developed young. Female pythons wrap their bodies around their eggs and shiver to heat themselves up to keep the eggs warm.

To kill snakes for their skins, hunters invade their homes and often nail them to trees and skin them alive before tossing them in a pile to die. The snakes can suffer for days before succumbing to shock or dehydration.      

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/exotic-skins-animals.aspx

Lizards are fascinating animals who have many unique traits. Most lizards can shed their tails to evade predators and run on four legs, twisting their bodies from side to side. Some lizards run on their back legs, and some can even run on water! Chameleons, iguanas, and some other lizards can change color to match their surroundings.

Iguanas are social animals who enjoy basking in the sun and eating together in high tree branches. Green iguanas and some other lizards have a "third eye" on top of their heads; this organ doesn't "see," but it helps them regulate hormone production related to time spent basking. Some horned lizards can even squirt blood from their eyes by deliberately increasing the blood pressure in their heads!

Lizards are known to live up to 33 years in the wild, but lizards killed for their skins are usually clubbed on their heads or have their spines severed with chisels as soon as they reach "marketable" size.

Alligators and Crocodiles

The most noticeable difference between alligators and crocodiles is their teeth. Alligators have a large fourth tooth in their lower jaw that fits inside their upper jaw when they close their mouths; with crocodiles, these teeth are visible when their mouths are closed.

Alligators inhabit swamps, tidal marshes, creeks, rivers, canals, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. One of only a few species—including humans and beavers—who create wetland habitat, alligators use their snouts, forefeet, and tails to burrow "gator holes" that fill with water and can be the size of backyard swimming pools. To survive subfreezing temperatures, these crafty animals move to shallow water, stick their nostrils above the surface, and let their snouts become frozen into the ice.

Mother crocodiles and alligators are very protective of their babies, and hatchling alligators generally stay together in a "pod" for one to three years. Alligators communicate with a variety of sounds, including coughing, hissing, distress yelps, hatching calls, bellowing, and vocalizations that are not audible to humans and that can travel very long distances.

Alligators are often kept in filthy, crowded tanks on alligator "farms" before being clubbed and skinned alive.

Why is it cruel to wear feathers

Down is the soft layer of feathers closest to birds' skin, primarily in the chest region. These feathers are highly valued by manufacturers of down clothing and comforters because they do not have quills. While most down and other feathers are removed from ducks and geese during slaughter, birds in breeding flocks and those raised for meat and foie gras may be plucked repeatedly while they are still alive.

Plucking causes geese and ducks considerable pain and distress. Typically, they are lifted by their necks or delicate wings, their legs are physically restrained or tied, and their feathers are ripped right out of their skin. The struggling birds are often plucked so hard that their skin is torn open and the hurried workers sew up the wounds using needle and thread and no painkillers. Plucking may begin when the animals are just 10 weeks old and be repeated in six-week intervals until the birds are slaughtered for meat long before they would naturally die.

Buying down can also support the cruelty of the foie gras industry. Producers of foie gras often boost their profits by selling the feathers of force-fed ducks and geese. These birds already have to endure having tubes rammed down their throats and their stomachs pumped full of so much corn mush that their livers swell to about 10 times their normal size, which is how foie gras is made.

The coldhearted and cruel down industry often plucks geese alive in order to get their down— the soft layer of feathers closest to a bird's skin. These feathers are used to produce clothing and comforters, but for geese, the down industry's methods are anything but comfortable.

Undercover video footage shows employees on goose farms pulling fistfuls of feathers out of live birds, often causing bloody wounds as the animals shriek in terror. The frightened animals are often squeezed upside down between workers' knees during the painful procedure—in one instance, an investigator photographed a worker who was sitting on a goose's neck in order to prevent her from escaping.

Live plucking causes birds considerable pain and distress. Once their feathers are ripped out, many of the birds, paralyzed with fear, are left with gaping wounds—some even die as a result of the procedure. Workers often sew the birds' skin back together without using any anesthetics.

That's not all—buying down can also support the cruelty of the foie gras and meat industries because many farmers who raise birds for food make an extra profit by selling their feathers as well. When these birds are slaughtered, they often have their throats cut or are dumped into tanks of scalding-hot water while they're still conscious.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

It's impossible to tell whether the down used in the products you buy was obtained from live-plucked birds. The only way to stop live plucking and ensure that no birds suffer for your clothing or bedding is to choose cruelty-free materials. Please make the compassionate choice to sign the pledge to go down-free now!

Silk, Cashmere, Shearling, and Other Animal Products Used for Clothing

Minks, foxes, and raccoons are the animals who usually come to mind when people think of animals who are killed for their fur, but countless other species are also exploited for their feathers, fur, and skins. From the tiniest silkworm to the largest llama, all animals used by the clothing industry suffer—and most pay with their lives.

Silk

Silk is the fiber that silkworms weave to make cocoons. The so-called "silkworm" is actually a domesticated insect who, in nature, goes through the same stages of metamorphosis—egg, larval, pupal, and adult—that all moths do. Silk is derived from the cocoons of larvae, so most of the insects raised by the industry don't live past the pupal stage, as they are steamed or gassed alive inside their cocoons.

Approximately 3,000 silkworms die to make every pound of silk. While worms can't show their distress in ways that humans easily recognize, such as screaming, anyone who has ever seen earthworms startle when their dark homes are uncovered must acknowledge that worms are sensitive; they produce endorphins and have a physical response to pain.

Cashmere

Cashmere is hair that is shorn from cashmere goats' underbellies. These goats are often kept on farms where they are dehorned and castrated and have their ears notched without anesthesia. Goats with "defects" in their coats are typically killed before the age of 2. Industry experts expect farmers to kill 50 to 80 percent of young goats whose coats do not meet standards. Shearing robs goats of their natural insulation, leaving them vulnerable to cold temperatures and illnesses. Many goats are sold to be slaughtered for their flesh after shearing.

Shearling

Contrary to what many consumers think, "shearling" is not sheared wool; the term refers to the sheep. A shearling is a yearling sheep who has been shorn once. A shearling garment is made from a sheep or lamb shorn shortly before slaughter. The skin is tanned with the wool still on it. It can take 25 to 45 individual sheep hides to make just one shearling garment.

Karakul Lamb Fur

Also called "astrakhan," "broadtail," or "Persian wool," karakul lamb fur comes from lambs who were killed as newborns or while still in their mothers' wombs. Because their unique, highly prized curly fur begins to unwind and straighten within three days of birth, many karakul lambs are slaughtered when they are only 1 or 2 days old. In order to get a karakul fetus' hide—which is called "broadtail" in the industry and which is valued for its exceptional smoothness—the mother's throat is cut and her abdomen slashed open to remove the developing lamb. A mother typically gives birth to three lambs before being slaughtered along with her fourth fetus, about 15 to 30 days before he or she is due to be born. As many as 4 million karakul lambs are slaughtered for their fur every year.

Vicuña

Vicuñas, who are related to camels and llamas and live high in the South American Andes, are exploited for their wool, which is the most expensive material used to make clothing in the world. To obtain their wool, wild vicuñas are typically herded into a V-shaped "funnel trap." This process is terrifying for these shy animals. Panicked vicuñas have even been known to break their necks during herding by crashing into fences. Their ears are then tagged, without the benefit of painkillers, before the animals are restrained and shorn with electric clippers. The shearers usually only leave the hair on the animals' bellies and chests, which isn't enough to protect them from the extreme heat and cold of the Andes.

Angora

Angora rabbits are strapped to a board for shearing, kicking powerfully in protest. The clippers inevitably bite into their flesh, with bloody results. Angoras have very delicate foot pads, making life on a wire cage floor excruciating and ulcerated feet a common condition. Because male Angora rabbits have only 75 to 80 percent of the wool yield of females, they are killed at birth on many farms.

Alpaca

The market for alpaca wool exploded in the 1980s when South American alpacas and llamas were marketed worldwide to entrepreneurs. The craze subsided, but breeding continues, and unwanted animals are now routinely put up for auction. Llama sanctuaries and rescue operations have sprung up in the wake of the breeding craze to handle the growing number of abused, neglected animals.

Shahtoosh

Shahtoosh, often used to make shawls, is made from the endangered Tibetan antelope, or chiru. Chiru cannot be domesticated and must be killed in order to obtain their wool. Illegal to sell or possess since 1975, shahtoosh shawls did a brisk business on the black market throughout the 1990s, selling for as much as $15,000 apiece as the Tibetan antelope's population plummeted to fewer than 75,000. Despite the ban on shahtoosh in India, a thriving black market still caters to customers in London, New York, and Los Angeles who will pay as much as $17,000 for a shawl. As many as 20,000 chiru are killed every year for their wool.

You can help put an end to the suffering of all these animals by refusing to wear any clothing made from the skins of animals. Check out PETA's cruelty-free clothing guide for tips on where you can find compassionate fashion.

Wool

Sheep are gentle individuals who, like all animals, feel pain, fear, and loneliness. But because there is a market for their fleece and skins, they are treated as nothing more than wool-producing machines.

If they were left alone and not genetically manipulated, sheep would grow just enough wool to protect themselves from temperature extremes. The fleece provides effective insulation against both cold and heat.

Shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast work without regard for the welfare of the sheep. Says one eyewitness, "[T]he shearing shed must be one of the worst places in the world for cruelty to animals … I have seen shearers punch sheep with their shears or their fists until the sheep's nose bled. I have seen sheep with half their faces shorn off …"

In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world's merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—originates, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called "mulesing," in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals' backsides, often without any painkillers.

Sheep are gentle, sensitive animals who are emotionally complex and highly intelligent. The following recent studies have found that sheep and humans have many things in common.

Keith Kendrick, a professor of physics at Gresham College in London, found that sheep can distinguish between different expressions in humans and that they can detect changes in the faces of anxious sheep. He also discovered that sheep recognize the faces of at least 50 other sheep and can remember 50 images for up to two years.

Professor John Webster of the University of Bristol found that, like humans, sheep visibly express emotions. When they experience stress or isolation, they show signs of depression similar to those humans show by hanging their heads and avoiding positive actions.

Like us, sheep experience fear when they are separated from their social groups or approached by strangers. Sheeps' heart rates have been found to increase by 20 beats per minute when they are unable to see any members of their flock and by 84 beats per minute when approached by a man and a dog.

When PETA staff members Carrie and Jackie visited the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland, they found out just how captivating sheep and lambs can be. Playful and puppy-like, the sheep wagged their tails when they were stroked. They affectionately nuzzled and head-butted Carrie and Jackie in order to get their attention.

One sheep, named Adam, who loved to cuddle and have his face stroked, made a big impression on the two staff members. "Adam was set to be a religious sacrifice before being rescued in the Washington, D.C., area. I couldn't even begin to fathom such a hideous fate for the sheep who was softly stroking my neck with his warm, fuzzy face," recalls Jackie.

Carrie also found that spending time with sheep was an eye-opening experience: "I had always seen sheep depicted as herd animals who did not have individual personalities. While I knew that this was not true, my experience with such affectionate and personable sheep truly made me understand what unique animals they are and how horribly cruel it is that they suffer so greatly in wool production and live export."

Although sheep are intelligent, social, emotional beings—just as humans are—the wool industry continues to abuse them in ways that would warrant cruelty-to-animals charges if dogs or cats were the victims. When they are still lambs, sheep are subjected to mulesing, a cruel mutilation in which farmers carve skin and flesh from the animals' backsides, often without giving them any painkillers. When the sheep begin to produce less wool, millions each year are loaded onto extremely crowded, multitiered cargo ships and sent on terrifying journeys to the Middle East or North Africa, where their throats are cut while they are still conscious.

There are fashionable, durable, and warm alternatives to wool available virtually everywhere clothes are sold. Check out PETA's Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing, and please, for the animals' sake, don't buy wool.

Most of the world's wool comes from Australia. The most commonly raised sheep in that country are merinos, who are specifically bred to have wrinkly skin, which means more wool per animal.

This unnatural overload of wool causes many sheep to collapse and even die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive.

To prevent this so-called "flystrike," Australian ranchers perform a barbaric procedure called "mulesing," in which they force live sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs between metal bars, and, often without any painkillers whatsoever, carve huge chunks of skin away from the animals' backsides or attach attach vise-like clamps to their flesh until it dies and sloughs off. Both procedures are terribly painful.

Mulesing is a crude attempt to create smoother skin that won’t collect moisture, but the exposed, bloody wounds often become infected or flystruck. Many sheep who have undergone the mulesing mutilation still suffer slow, agonizing deaths from flystrike.

Mutilating sheep is not just cruel; it's also ineffective. Better husbandry is the answer, not mutilating animals. Sheep can be spared maggot infestation through humane methods such as diet regulation, spray washing, and simply breeding types of sheep who are better suited for the Australian climate.

H&M, Perry Ellis, major fashion house HUGO BOSS, sporting goods giant Adidas, and numerous other companies have pledged to move away from mulesed wool or implemented an outright ban on wool from lambs who have been mulesed. You can help, too, by refusing to buy wool of any kind and by urging the Australian government to outlaw mulesing mutilation today.

When sheep age and their wool production declines, wool farmers no longer have any use for them and discard them for slaughter. Every year, 4 million sheep endure the cruelty of live export from Australia to the Middle East and North Africa aboard filthy, multitier ships. Sheep from Australia are slaughtered in the Middle East after enduring grueling journeys on extremely crowded, disease-ridden ships. The voyage can last weeks, and the sheep can be exposed to all weather extremes. 

Many sheep fall ill or starve to death because they are unused to the pellet food provided onboard. Lame sheep are trampled, unable to lift their faces from the feces-laden floors. The extremely crowded conditions and heat stress can lead to diseases such as conjunctivitis ("pink eye") and salmonellosis.

While industry reports show the average shipboard mortality rate to be less than 1 percent—well below the "trigger level" that  would warrant thorough investigation—Meat and Livestock Australia reported that the individual ships' mortality rates ranged from nil to 28 percent in 2005. The report states that nearly 1 percent of the total sheep exported—approximately 38,000 sheep—died in transit, an increase from .75 percent in 2004. Nearly all the sheep were in transit to the Middle East. In most cases, their carcasses were thrown overboard.

Between August and October of 2003, more than 50,000 sheep suffered aboard the MV Cormo Express when the Saudi Arabian government refused to accept them. Too many of them were believed to be infected with "scabby mouth," a disease that results in sores and scabs around the animals' mouths. After nearly two months aboard this ship, with very little food and water—often in temperatures exceeding 100°F—the sheep were accepted for slaughter by the African nation of Eritrea.

When the survivors arrive at their destination, they are often dragged from the ships and thrown into the backs of trucks and cars. Eventually, most will have their throats cut while they are still conscious, as Halal slaughter standards dictate. Some sheep are slaughtereden masse in lots, while others are taken home and slaughtered individually by the purchasers. Muslim countries require that animals be slaughtered according to Halal regulations, but forcing animals to suffer long journeys aboard filthy, extremely crowded ships just so that they can be killed in a Muslim country is no longer necessary on account of the numerous slaughterhouses in Australia that possess Halal certification. There is simply no viable reason for live export.

At every stage of production, from breeding sheep to mothproofing garments, the wool industry threatens the land, air, and water.

Climate Change

Manure generated from livestock has significantly contributed to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses over the last 250 years. In that time, the concentration of methane has increased by more than 130 percent in the U.S. "Enteric fermentation," or livestock belching and passing gas, accounts for roughly one-quarter of annual agricultural methane emissions.

In New Zealand, methane emissions from enteric fermentation, coming mostly from sheep, make up more than 90 percent of the nation's greenhouse-gas emissions. In the summer of 2003, New Zealand Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton, Convenor of the Ministerial Group on Climate Change Pete Hodgson, and other members of the government proposed taxing sheep farmers to pay for emissions research, but the plan was abandoned.

Land Damage

Oxford researchers studying land degradation in the Karoo in South Africa have noted, "There is some evidence in the Karoo as a whole that very high stock numbers (sheep largely) are the cause of vegetation change and soil erosion leading to the formation of badlands [heavily eroded areas]."

In the first half of the 20th century, Patagonia, Argentina, was second to Australia in wool production. But when local sheep farmers got too greedy, the scale of their operations outgrew the ability of the land to sustain them. Soil erosion in the region has triggered a desertification process that officials estimate threatens as much as 93 percent of the land. Argentina is no longer a major wool producer.

Water Pollution

Fecal matter contaminates waterways in areas where sheep are farmed. A case study conducted by the New Zealand government on two medium-sized farms found fecal contamination in the water that "exceeded levels suitable for drinking and safe recreational use in virtually every reading since 1994, and in recent times ... has well exceeded safe livestock drinking levels ...."

Sheep "dip," which is a toxic chemical used to rid sheep of parasites, presents disposal problems and can harm the environment. A Scottish study of 795 sheep-dip facilities found that 40 percent presented a pollution risk. The study found evidence of a 1995 incident in which a cupful of spent dip, full of a highly toxic synthetic called pyrethroid cypermethrin, killed 1,200 fish downstream from where it was dumped into a river.

Wildlife 'Scapegoats'

The wool industry also inflicts "collateral damage" on wildlife they consider to be "pests." Many landowners consider kangaroos to be such "pests," and though there are some laws governing the killing of kangaroos, on their own property, landowners can do whatever they want to these animals without fear of repercussions. The preferred method of killing joeys whose mothers have been slaughtered is, according to government code, decapitation or a "blow to destroy the brain."

In the U.S., coyotes are vilified for eating sheep and other livestock, and, as a result, millions are slaughtered every year by ranchers and the federal government.

By purchasing only wool alternatives, not only are you taking a stand for animals, you're also helping to preserve natural ecosystems throughout the world. Check out PETA's cruelty-free clothing guide for tips on where you can find environmentally friendly and compassionate fashion.

All information on this page was taken directly from www.peta.org as it proved to be the most informative resource for this topic.

http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/cruelty-free-clothing-guide.aspx