Cows* have complex social lives; like humans, they’re picky over who gets to be their friend, they have best friends with whom they experience separation anxiety, they hold grudges with those they dislike, and they have social hierarchies. Herd leaders are established by who is most intelligent, confident, and inquisitive. Cows have close family bonds, and babies naturally suckle their mother for up to a year of age. Cows stress and mourn the separation of family members, especially the separation of mother and child. Calves are playful and cheeky, they play fight together, wagging their tails like dogs so the adult cows know their ‘hustles’ are just for fun.

Cows are individuals and when testing their responses to different stimuli this is very clear. Some are timid, some are boisterous, and I see this in the cows I have rescued and the friends that they live with. I’ve seen them flirt, be sneaky, be nervous. I’ve seen them exclude certain members of the herd and run off with their best friend, just like you might in a school playground. I’ve seen them as the loving, complex, funny, feeling, sentient beings that they are. The below image is of a cow I rescued called Elira, right before she gave me a big slobbery kiss.

This article is about the leather industry and cows. About shoes, car seats, bags, jackets, couches and belts. About an industry that sells the skin of these beautiful animals, so that we can wear, sit on and use them.

WHAT IS LEATHER?

Leather is skin. By the time it gets to us, it’s easy for that to be forgotten, as the skin is preserved through a process called tanning, which uses strong, polluting and dangerous chemicals to stop the skin from naturally decomposing.[i] Before this process occurs, the skin looks a lot more like what it is – skin and flesh ripped off the carcass of a dead cow. Bloody and covered in fur. I took the cover image for this article of dead skins in a pool of blood at a leather tannery just outside of Melbourne, and another activist took the image on the right, at another Victorian tannery.

Many people believe that leather is a by-product of the meat industry, that cows are killed so that people can eat their flesh, what we call beef (which you can read about here). Many think the skin of these dead cows is turned into leather simply to prevent waste.

This is not the case. Leather is a co-product of the meat industry. Skins are used not to minimize waste, but to maximize profits. Leather is believed to account for around half the meat industry’s value, and so buying leather directly contributes to the economic success of farming, factory farming, abattoirs and the slaughter of innocent animals. When a person wears suede, they are likely supporting the veal and dairy industries. When a person wears leather, they could be wearing a cow who was killed for their flesh to be eaten, or a cow who has spent her life as a milk machine.

Baby cows like, Rudolph and Bambi, have softer skin than their ‘adult’ relatives (though no cows in the animal agricultural industries live nearly to their full adult maturity, as their natural lifespan is between 18-22 years, and according to ‘guidelines for slaughter’, the ‘highest quality’ flesh comes from cows that are under 36 months, or 3 years of age)[ii]. These baby cows who are sometimes killed to be eaten under the name of veal at anywhere between 3 to 16 weeks old, will also be turned into suede products that are soft and supple.

Baby cows that are killed almost as soon as they are born, within a few days of their life beginning, belong to the dairy industry, and are called bobby calves. About 700,000 bobby calves are killed in the dairy industry annually, because they are born male and cannot produce milk (read more here).[iii] These cows, being so young, have even softer skin, and so their skin is sold at a higher price, and used for what are marketed as ‘luxurious’ products.

Possibly most horrifyingly, many cows are sent to slaughter while pregnant. Some of the softest and most expensive leather belongs to the skin of unborn calves. ‘Slink leather’ as it is called, is the skin of an unborn calf that has been cut out of their mother’s stomach on the killing floor of a slaughterhouse. Slink leather is used often for delicate leather products like gloves, and is used by many of the top fashion houses as it is seen as so luxurious. There is nothing special or fancy about wearing the skin of a baby who was killed alongside her mother before even a day old.

The slaughter of cows is wrong regardless of what the end result is – a dead cow used for their skin, or for their flesh. It is not justifiable to needlessly kill an animal with sentience, or an ability to feel fear and joy, who does not want to die, just like us.

Although legal, it is commonly deemed unacceptable in many parts of the world, including Australia, to kill dogs because we understand they are feeling beings who have personalities and emotions. We see it as wrong to kill someone like this. However, the only difference between dogs and cows, or any animal we use and kill, is separation and social conditioning. Most of us have not had the chance to properly meet a cow, to see them play, to observe them as they go about their day in an environment that does not oppress them, to watch them as we would watch a dog, rather than a piece of stock to make money from – stock that just happens to be alive. Cows are not livestock but living beings.

However, if you’re not yet convinced that it is wrong to kill an animal, to kill a cow so that you can wear their skin, so long as it is done ‘ethically’, this next part is for you.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A COW USED FOR THEIR SKIN

At the start of a cow’s life, he or she is subjected to torture. This torture is completely legal and supported under Australian ‘codes of practice’. In Australia, we can lawfully castrate, dehorn, and brand cows with burning metal, without any pain relief.[iv] Imagine having your flesh burnt, your skin cut open and your testicles cut out, your fingers cut off (fingers have a similar amount of nerves as horns, as they are connected to a cow’s sinuses, skin and bone), while you were fully conscious.

All of this torture is done in the name of ‘easy farming’. It’s simply easier for a farmer to not go to the trouble and financial cost of providing pain relief. It’s less effort if you don’t need to deal with horns getting in the way as they try to herd animals to their death.

The majority of cows are also kept on large farms and stations that are infrequently monitored, and so any injuries and sickness can go untreated, unnoticed, uncared for, for long periods.

A perfect example of this is Yowie. Yowie was found in a big field, his eye hanging out of his face. He was rescued from this farm, where he had been neglected. I think of Yowie often when I am in the Victorian countryside. My family has a holiday house just out of Castlemaine, and sometimes I go on big walks that take me through other people’s land at certain points. It is common for me to see decomposing cow bodies on these walks, despite farms being no more than 100 acres up there.

While farms up in that part of Victoria are smaller, many of the cows farmed in Australia are on enormous stations, where they are mustered from over 10km away. This is exhausting for the cows, and subjects them to dehydration over-heating and stress. Mustered into holding pens only once or twice a year, in Australia, according to industry reports, 9% of steers (castrated bulls) and 6% of heifers die before the slaughter, likely from long and painful deaths. If Yowie had not been found, and his eye not been cut out, the bacteria and flies that had been eating at his wound would have likely diseased him, and over time, painfully killed him.

When farmers are ready to send their cows to slaughter, some people believe there is an ethical way to kill someone who does not want to die, and this normally is thought to involve a ‘pain-free death’. According to the RSPCA (an ‘animal welfare’ organization who make regular attempts to justify the killing of animals) a humane killing is the ‘death of an animal without pain, suffering or distress’, and ‘instant unconsciousness followed by rapid death before regaining consciousness’.[v]

Almost every piece of beef and leather, belongs to a cow who was trucked off to a slaughterhouse, as onsite killing is very rare. In Australia it is legal not to give food or water to cows in transit to slaughter, in fact it is industry standard. Imagine being in a truck packed full of other frightened beings, it could be a boiling hot day, and you have no food or water. This is not ‘without distress’, even before arrival at the slaughterhouse.

So called ‘humane killing’ of cows involves the use of a captive bolt to the head. Done correctly, a captive bolt goes straight through a cow’s brain, instantly stunning him or her. However, for this to occur, a specific part of the head must be shot, and slaughterhouse workers do not need to have any anatomical knowledge.

A 2017 article by Lukas Jasiunas [vi] examines the research by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences to assess the efficiency of  captive bolt stunning. [vii] 998 cows were observed during five ‘normal days’ at a commercial Swedish abattoir which processed on average 30 animals an hour, 200 per day. The researchers assessed the process for both adequacy (the presence of signs of consciousness) and accuracy. Of the 998 observed cows, just 84.1% were assessed to be adequately stunned. Those who were still partially or fully conscious, were then either repetitively shot in their brain, or slaughtered semi-conscious. In the relatively small beef market of Sweden 445,000 cows are slaughtered every year. In Australia we kill 8 million cows for their flesh and skin annually. If this study were to be generalized, that would be an enormous amount of individuals having their throats slit open while semi-conscious.

Please spend just 7 minutes to see what this means for the cows. This footage captured in an Australian slaughterhouse demonstrates this very experience for repeated failed stunning attempts and semi-conscious slaughtered cows.

Bulls were assessed to be inadequately stunned three times more than females, a finding that confirms earlier research.

After closely observing the skulls of the killed cows, researchers found that in total, 10.4% of cows who were shot accurately were still stunned inadequately. Of those cattle shot inaccurately (not shot in the correct part of the head), 35% showed signs of inadequate stunning.

14 bulls were shot more than three times before slaughter. Calves were exposed most frequently to inaccurate shots (14%). The researchers deemed that poor stun gun servicing and limited shooter experience were to blame for this. Scientists noted that ‘the least experienced shooter…seemed fearful of the cattle, often hesitating just before shooting’.

I cannot imagine being in a position where my job was to shoot cows in the head. Empathizing with slaughterhouse workers means having an understanding of how mentally damaging the job would be, and how often an inexperienced worker would inadequately stun cows, leading to painful, conscious deaths.

While in Sweden and Australia we do have some laws around how animals like cows must be slaughtered, some countries do not. Almost no leather is labeled so that consumers can see where a cow was killed for that product. Most leather available to us comes from India and China, were animal welfare laws are practically non-existent.

For example in India, where cows are seen as sacred animals, it is illegal to kill them in much of the country, or there are specific guidelines under which a cow can be killed. However, in Kerala and West Bengal, there are no restrictions relating to the killing of cows. For this reason, many farmers travel from all around India to these states so that they can slaughter their cows cheaply, without following any guidelines or laws. Farmers can force their herd to travel for days on end, without food or water. It is common for cows to have their tails broken, and chilli rubbed into their eyes to force them to keep walking when they stop due to exhaustion.[viii]. In these parts of India, cows have their throats slit while conscious, and they are left to bleed out and often skinned while still alive.

Having said this, it would be misleading to share this information without demonstrating how the Australian model of slaughter translates in reality at the slaughterhouse.

LEATHER ALTERNATIVES

There are so many vegan alternatives to leather. There have been PU leather materials around for decades now, and more recently, sustainable, plant-based leathers such as pineapple leaf, apple and mushroom leather. Some of my favourite vegan leather products include the Dr. Marten’s vegan range, Alexandra K’s bags, Matt and Nat’s products, Veja’s vegan range, Beyond Skin, Mireira Playa’s shoes, and bags by Denise Roobol.

While it has never been justifiable to needlessly kill an animal for the sake of fashion (in the case of leather), and for the sake of food we do not need to thrive, (in the case of beef, leather’s co-product), as more vegan leather products become available, it becomes more and more cruel and irresponsible to continue the barbaric killing of kind cows just like Strongheart, who I’m cuddling, kissing and chatting to below. Please think of him next time you look at a piece of cow skin, stitched and sewn into a jacket, a pair of shoes, or a chair.

Author: Emma Hakansson
Producer/Ethics Consultant at Willow Creative Co

*For the sake of best connecting with the reader we have mostly used the term ‘cows’ for all bovine rather than the correct terminology of bull, cow, heifer, steer, calf.

[i] https://leathersustainability.weebly.com/

[ii] http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/T0279E/T0279E05.htm

[iii] https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/brutal-secret-behind-the-dairy-industry-20110128-1a7tb.html

[iv] http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-welfare/animal-welfare-legislation/victorian-codes-of-practice-for-animal-welfare/code-of-accepted-farming-practice-for-the-welfare-of-cattle

[v] http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-do-we-mean-by-humane-killing-or-slaughter_115.html

[vi] https://faunalytics.org/effective-captive-bolt-stunning/#

[vii] http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ufaw/aw/2013/00000022/00000004/art00009

[viii] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/how-indias-sacred-cows-are-beaten-abused-and-poisoned-to-make-leather-for-high-street-shops-724696.html

CASHMERE

Cashmere is made from cashmere goats and is hair that is torn or shorn from their underbellies. These goats are often kept on farms where they are dehorned and castrated and have their ears notched without anaesthesia.  Goats with what the industry regards as “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.

Cashmere cruelty caught on video

MOHAIR

Mohair, the long, smooth fibre used in sweaters, hats and other fluffy accessories, comes from angora goats (not to be confused with angora wool, which comes from angora rabbits).  To obtain mohair, workers often tie the goats’ legs together, pin them to the floor, and use electric shears or large clippers to shear them.

Angora goats are killed well short of their natural 10-year life expectancy. As soon as they’re no longer useful to the industry due to their age impacting the quality of their hair, they will be sold for meat, or they may be slaughtered for their skins, which are then used to produce clothing, rugs and other items.

Since goats are prey animals, being restrained in this way is an horrific experience for them.  The shearers work fast, causing the same frequent injuries and gaping wounds, not unlike sheep shearing.

Angora goats would once shed naturally. Now, due to genetic manipulations they are reliant on being shorn. Our interference with the natural processes of these gentle animals means their reliance on humans to shear them or help to maintain their thick coats, for the time being cannot be avoided, however, their harsh treatment and commodification can.

Shearing robs goats of their natural insulation, and unlike sheep, they don’t carry layers of body fat or lanolin.  For this reason, they are even more susceptible to cold stress and weather-induced death for around 14 days after shearing. Like those who profit from sheep, those who use goats for profits have no need to consider their suffering from cold. Their primary concern lies in making money from the lives of others.

GOAT HAIR IN THE BEAUTY AND ART INDUSTRY

Goat hair is used in make up brushes and hair brushes.  Something that the beauty industry thrives on, as with all industries that exploit animals, is deception.  Please be aware that there is no such thing as cruelty free when any animal products are being used.  Its an oxy moron just as free range, ethical and humane when used in conjunction with animal products.  You can purchase vegan, cruelty free synthetic make up, hair brushes and paint brushes, that are not only ethical but also a better quality product.

LEATHER

A goat’s skin is also torn from their bodies during the slaughter process and this is then sold as “leather”.  Animal skin is the most economically important co-product of the “meat” industry. Buying and wearing leather directly supports the inherent cruelty within the animal agriculture industry.

Many male kids and buckling’s from the dairy industry are viewed as mere waste products and are sent to slaughter anywhere from 3 months of age. Their flesh is sold as capretto and their skin is sold as either kid skin or goat suede.

TANNERY TOXINS

Tanning, the process of turning raw animal skin into leather involves the use of toxic chemicals that harm not only our environment as they wash into the waterways, but also our health. These chemicals have been linked to nervous system disorders, skin and respiratory infections, leukaemia and other types of cancer. Arsenic, a chemical commonly used in the tanning process, has long been associated with lung cancer in workers who are exposed to it on a regular basis.

Baby goats such as this little precious one who are lucky enough to be rescued from many different situations may get to live out their lives at a sanctuary such as Edgar’s Mission.  Sadly, they will not get to know the love of their maternal mothers and herd as many of them are saved from slaughter, neglect, and the many other situations that these little ones end up in, through no fault of their own.  However, they will get to know the love of many other goats, who have come from very similar situations.  They will know what it is like to run, bounce and play in peace and to grow up in a safe and loving environment until they are of old age.  They will receive the correct medical care and treatment if and when they require it.  They will never know what it’s like to be exploited in an industry that only sees value in their body parts or secretions.

DISBUDDING AND DEHORNING

Disbudding and dehorning are yet more cruel practices systemic to industries that use goats for their fur and skin along with other industries where goats are exploited.

Goat horns have many blood vessels within them that help the goats regulate their body temperature in the heat.  Without horns, the goats have to resort to panting to cool off.

Disbudding is a procedure that uses a hot iron to cauterise the horn buds to burn them off, prior to them attaching to the kid’s skull.  If the iron is held on the goat’s head for too long, brain damage can occur. If the iron isn’t held to the head long enough, scurs can form.  Scurs occur when the horn tissue isn’t properly burned off during disbudding, allowing the horns to continue to grow.  Scurs containing many blood vessels can start to grow back towards the goat’s head, which would harm the goat, forcing them to be severed.

Dehorning is the removal of horns once they have attached to the skull, typically buy using saws or shears.  These procedures are done without any anaesthetic. It is only “recommended” under Australian Industry Welfare Standards and Guidelines for goats, that a person performing such procedures must have the relevant experience, knowledge and skills, and must ensure that “appropriate” tools are used. Keep in mind, these are merely guidelines and not standardised regulation. The painful procedure can be viewed here, presented as a “do it yourself” tutorial.

Disbudding and dehorning are only done for the “safety” of the operators who handle the goats and seemingly for aesthetic reasons.

Several websites state things such as:

“Do you like the look of your goats with, or without horns”

“Is your goats behaviour that by leaving the goats horns intact will not be a problem”

“Do your goats live in an environment that will be more useful than not having them”

There is consensus among many vets that dehorning and disbudding is extremely invasive and painful for the animals.

CASTRATION

The methods listed below can be done without any official training.  There are available manuals, articles and YouTube videos online showing you how to carry out these procedures. It’s alarming that these procedures can be done by anyone other than a trained vet and a vet does not need to be present. Anesthesia is not required.

BURDIZZO METHOD

The Burdizzo is a castration device which employs a large clamp designed to break the blood vessels leading into the testicles. When the device is used, the operator crushes the spermatic cords one at a time, leaving a space in between to prevent an interruption of blood-flow to the scrotum.

ELASTRATOR METHOD

This method involves cutting off the blood supply to the testes with a heavy rubber band or ring. In 10 to 14 days, the scrotum and testes will slough off.

KNIFE METHOD

How to castrate a goat features in ‘Raising Goats for Dummies’, highlighting anyone can perform the procedure, having had no any experience or training. Again, no anesthetic is required and the Knife-Method is touted as the most reliable and least expensive method of castration.

It is insane to acknowledge the obvious, that animals are sentient, just like us, yet at the same time, not only legally but socially accept such brutal and violent treatment of these individuals. The point must always be considered that so long as anyone is viewed and used as a commodity, existing for the benefit of another, their wellbeing will never be a priority and their right to a full and long life well lived will never exist.

Author: Jaysherrie Terraqueos
Founder of Melbourne Goat Save

Editors Note: The wool and the sheep flesh industries are so intertwined it is difficult to write about them separately. For this reason, we have incorporated these pages together. It is common for people to think wool is not cruel. Nothing could be further from the truth. The wool industry, like the meat industry, is one of immense suffering for the sheep involved. VR.

Sheep are used for their flesh and their wool throughout Australia. Sheep who are specifically bred for their flesh will be killed as babies of only 6-8 months old. Sheep used for their wool will also eventually be killed for their flesh once their wool growth slows, sold as cheap flesh for human consumption or dog food. The following information is standard practice across all sheep farms in Australia.

LAMBING FOR FLESH AND WOOL

 In Australia, lambing is usually timed to occur in mid-winter so that once the lambs are weaned the spring grass will be growing and the expense incurred by the farmers for feed will be reduced. The industry-driven demand for “Spring Lamb” is also to benefit from this artificial timing. Lambs are born into freezing conditions, often at night, resulting in the death of many. Sheep are selectively bred to have a greater number of lambs. When a sheep has 3 lambs the 3rd can be rejected by the mother who is sometimes unable to care for 3. 

There is very often no shelter for the newborn lambs even in the middle of winter. One of the reasons given for winter shearing is to encourage the ewes to seek shelter for their lambs even if there is none. Lambs are often born during the night so on many occasions, the lambs who are sick or abandoned are not discovered until early morning after they have died or when it is too late to save them. If orphaned or sick lambs are discovered alive, the majority of farmers are unwilling to spend the time or money on vet visits and hand raising them. They are killed, often with a blow to the head with a blunt object. This is perfectly legal with the method being recommended by Agriculture Victoria in their guidelines on sheep welfare.

In the first 48 hours of life 10 to 15 million lambs will lose their lives due to malnutrition and/or hypothermia. Approximately 22 million lambs were sent to slaughter in 2017. This total of 37 million lives per annum does not account for any of those lost between the first 48 hours and slaughter age (approximately 6-8 months of age).

It is not only the lambs who suffer and die but also the ewes. Ewes who have birthing difficulties are usually not monitored or given vet treatment. Many die without anyone being aware that they are in trouble. 

Rescued hypothermic lamb forced into the world in the freeze of winter to increase farmer profits
Credit: Lamb Care A

Male lambs, unless marked for slaughter prior to puberty, will usually be castrated. Acceptable methods of castrating male lambs without anaesthesia are by cutting with a knife or having rubber rings applied.

TAIL DOCKING

According to the Code of Accepted Farming Practice for the Welfare of Sheep (Agriculture Victoria) tail docking should be performed on lambs as early as management practices will allow, preferably between 2 and 12 weeks. Disregarding any pain they may feel, the acceptable methods of tail docking, without anaesthesia, are: cutting with a sharp knife, applying rubber rings or using a gas flame heated scarring iron.

Tail docking is a standard practice on farms. The reason given for this is to help reduce the incidence of fly strike (as described in Mulesing). As in the case of Museling, this is an unnecessary mutilation of the lambs with sheep being able to live a perfectly healthy life with their tails intact.

MULESING

Although mulesing is less commonly practised than it once was it is still a practice that occurs in Australia. Mulesing involves cutting a crescent-shaped slice of skin from each side of the buttock area; the usual cut on each side is 5 – 7cm in width and extends slightly less than halfway from the anus to the hock of the back leg in length. Skin is also stripped from the sides and the end of the tail stump. This surgical procedure is usually done without any anaesthetic. The large scars left after mulesing take several weeks to heal and are susceptible to infection and flystrike.

The idea behind mulesing is to reduce flystrike which is when blowfly eggs laid on the skin of the sheep hatch into larvae which then feed on the sheep’s tissue. Sheep are now bred to have more wrinkly skin to increase the amount of wool which creates a much higher chance of flystrike. Whilst flystrike can be a risk to sheep it is a treatable condition. In flocks of hundreds of sheep, however, flystrike can be harder to detect and farmers are reluctant to spend the huge amount of time required monitoring the occurrence or treating any cases. If sheep were not bred in such large numbers as they are for the animal flesh and wool industry flystrike could be easily monitored and treated if it did occur.

SHEARING

Sheep were originally self-shedding so kept enough wool to protect themselves from temperature extremes. The fleece provides effective insulation against both cold and heat. Due to breeding and genetic manipulation, however, sheep raised by the wool industry produce excessive amounts of wool so now have to be shorn. Shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast work without regard for the welfare of the sheep. This often results in horrendous injuries to the sheep with open wounds being sewn up without anaesthetic. Sheep are known to be beaten into submission should they not stay still and drug use has been proven to be prevalent in the shearing industry. Despite the fact that shearing causes sheep a high degree of stress, they are usually shorn twice a year with one of those times being late autumn – a time when they are leading into when they are most in need of their fleece to protect them from the cold. This is to enable farmers to make a greater amount of profit from their wool.

SHELTER

There is no legal requirement to provide any form of shelter at farms, saleyards, feedlots or slaughterhouses, even from severe weather extremes. This includes the most basic form of shade. Sheep can be seen on days in the high 30s or even low 40s huddled together under one tree or with no choice but to be out in full sun for the whole day. Australia’s weather extremes are brutal and millions of sheep and newborn lambs are at its mercy with no regard shown by those who profit from their lives and deaths.

SALEYARDS

Thousands of sheep pass through Australian saleyards every week. Most are waiting to be purchased for slaughter. Pens are crammed full of sheep who are commonly injured or sick. It is illegal to transport pregnant ewes yet it is not uncommon for lambs to be born at saleyards. There is no legal requirement for any sort of shelter at saleyards so sheep are often exposed to the extremes of weather conditions experienced in Australia.

TRANSPORT

When sheep are transported in trucks they are crammed in to stop them from falling over. Although this does help to stabilize them it is common for trucks to contain downed sheep who are unable to get up and who are being trampled by others. It is illegal to transport pregnant ewes but it is not uncommon for lambs to be born on trucks. A common sight on busy freeways is for a transport truck to be seen with the head or limbs of sheep protruding from the side of the truck. It is illegal to drive with any part of a sheep protruding from a truck. It is very difficult, however, for a driver to stop and rectify the situation during the journey without unloading all the sheep. This law is in place more for appearance than for practicality. Accidents involving sheep on trucks are becoming increasingly common resulting in horrific injuries and deaths of these animals.

SLAUGHTER

Meat and Livestock Australia estimated that 22 million lambs would be sent to slaughter in Australia in 2017. Despite the industry wanting us to believe in a “humane” slaughter method this is far from the truth. The animals suffer and die a terrible death. Although stunning is a requirement for lambs and sheep slaughtered in Australian slaughterhouses (with the exception of Kosher killing) the stunning process is often not effective and the animals have their throats slit and are left hanging upside down to bleed out while close to or fully conscious. Recent footage captured and leaked from CCTV cameras shows the reality of what takes place for sheep behind the walls of the slaughterhouse.

Sheep and lambs are no different to the domestic cat and dog in that they each have their individual personalities. They are affectionate and loving, just like most domestic cats and dogs and also feel fear, joy, and pain just like any other living being. Yet so many people deem it acceptable to treat them in a way the majority of us would never dream of treating our animal friends. People need to realize just how individual and sensitive these animals are and that they no sooner want live the life of abuse, loss and slaughter than any other living being wishes to live. If people could allow themselves to see the truth about these animals they would no longer be able to contribute to their suffering and death.

Although in recent times many fashion designers and retailers have opted to ditch fur, an estimated 100 million animals are still farmed and killed annually for their pelts, most commonly rabbits, minks, foxes and raccoon dogs. Another 10 million wild animals are thought to be trapped and killed for their fur annually including possums, beavers, lynxes, coyotes, seals, dogs, cats, otters, bears, squirrels, badgers, wallabies, chinchillas, martens and bobcats. Fur is used for coats, clothing trims and trinkets. Fur farms are most commonly found in China, parts of Europe, USA, Russia and Canada.

MINK

Naturally, mink are solitary, semi-aquatic animals who cover a wide range of ground.  They spend the majority of their time in the water swimming and hunting. Mink will only seek out other mink to mate and will aggressively defend their territory in the wild.  In typical fur farms, these animals are confined to a small wire cage with little to no bedding and no stimulation.  They are usually crammed in with several other mink.  They are unable to exhibit their natural behaviours due to the cramped conditions and will become deeply stressed and display stereotypies such as pacing, head nodding, gnawing of bars, repetitive circling and pelt chewing. Leg wounds, eye infections, and cannibalism are common.

FOXES

Foxes are active animals whose territories can cover tens of square kilometres.  They partner and form strong family bonds.  They dig large dens for breeding and will create a series of smaller dens around their territory to store food and emergency shelter.  They hunt, forage and have complex body and vocal language systems. When confined in the typical solitary wire mesh cage on intensive fur farms, foxes are unable to exhibit any of these instinctual behaviours and like mink will become distressed and engage in pacing and self-mutilation.

RABBITS

Most of the fur imported to Australia is rabbit fur from China. Like mink, rabbits are confined with several other animals to small bare wire cages, unable to move or display natural behaviours such as hopping, digging and grooming.  This results in painful health problems such as foot abscesses and veterbral column deformations.  Being a prey animal, rabbits are easily frightened and prone to stress.  Stereotypies such as head bobbing and circling, bar biting and being “frozen” in fear are commonplace.

PROCESS OF TAKING THEIR FUR

Routine ways of killing farmed fur-bearing animals are anal or vaginal electrocution, drowning, clubbing, beating, poisoning, gassing and neck-breaking. Alarmingly, some are even skinned alive. This ensures no blood will destroy the quality of the pelt.

Garments made of the more “high-end” angora rabbit wool are created from fur which is manually ripped off the skin of fully conscious animals without any pain relief.  The rabbits are tied up and stretched out to restrict their movement during this process. Recent investigations have shown rabbits screaming in agony while bleeding from open wounds, after which they are returned to their cages and subjected to the same horrific process every couple of months for their short, miserable lives. Farmers prefer this method as it is quick and yields longer hair deeming it more profitable.

Although deemed “inhumane” and banned in many countries and states of the U.S, the most common form of trapping of wild animals for fur is leg-hold trapping in which a steel-jaw violently clamps down on the animal’s leg causing severe injury and pain.  If the animal doesn’t chew his own leg off first, he is often left suffering for days at a time without access to food or water, deeming him susceptible to predatory attacks and dangerous weather conditions. The animal is then usually suffocated or clubbed to death, again to preserve the pelt.  These traps are indiscriminate and will often slowly and painfully kill other unwanted animals, who will be discarded as “waste”.

It is illegal to import dog and cat fur to Australia, however these products are often mislabeled as rabbit, fox or mink. Annually, approximately two million farmed, stray and domesticated dogs and cats suffer unimaginable cruelty and death at the hands of fur farmers- often beaten, electrocuted and skinned alive. Many of these animals are beloved pets taken from the streets.

As awareness and outrage about this horrendously cruel trade becomes more widespread, people are looking for faux alternatives. Disturbingly however, some clothing trims advertised as faux fur have been found to contain real animal hair.  Use this guide to determine whether the garment contains real animal fur, and if you are in any doubt, don’t buy it. The below table shows how to differentiate between real and fake fur (Credit: Animals Australia)

Author: Kathryn Stone
Vice President Vegan Rising

Historically, silk has been considered a luxury item with an illustrious history since its discovery by the Chinese Empress Shiling Ti in around 2640 BC.  However, the production of silk (sericulture) is undoubtedly cruel and is responsible for the deaths of billions of silkworms annually.  Though the practice was a well-kept secret in China for over 3000 years, it eventually spread to other parts of the world.

The silkworm or Bombyx mori (the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silk moth) has been bred, farmed and killed for fashion for thousands of years most commonly in China, India, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, DPR Korea and Iran, and continues to be a thriving business to this day. Globally approximately 192692.45 metric tonnes of silk are produced annually. It takes approximately 2000-3000 silkworm cocoons to produce less than half a kilogram of silk.  This equates to a LOT of suffering.

In typical silk farming, the silk moth lays hundreds of eggs which hatch and become larvae (worms) over a period of around 14 days. They feed continuously on mulberry tree leaves for 2-3 weeks, going through a series of molts. The final transformation from larva to pupa occurs inside the self-made cocoon which is constructed from the salivary glands of the worm, producing approximately 1 kilometre of silk filament.

In a silk worm’s natural life cycle, an adult moth would hatch from the cocoon and go on to mate and produce more eggs and die shortly after.  However, during traditional silk production, the pupae are boiled, steamed or gassed alive inside their cocoons. This is so the enzyme normally released at this stage to create a hole in the cocoon from which the pupa emerges as a moth does not occur. This enzyme damages the integrity of the silk cocoon and affects the length and quality of the thread. Boiling, steaming or gassing the cocoon also allows the farmer to more easily unravel the silk.

The silkworm has been selectively bred to metamorphose into a moth incapable of flight.  So the lucky few who are allowed to complete their natural life-cycle to become breeding moths, suffer the frustration and distress of not being able to fly.

There is a new trend in sericulture called “Ahimsa” (meaning respect for all living beings and non-violence) or “Peace” silk, in which the pupae are allowed to hatch, and the silk filament is harvested from the empty cocoon.  Alternatively, the cocoon is cut open and the pupa is tipped out, so to avoid the contamination of the silk filament with the pupa’s urine.  This is still a deliberate premature cessation of the silk worm’s natural life cycle.

Although “Peace’ silk is marketed as a more humane method of silk production, the process still requires the breeding, farming and exploitation of silkworms, who have been genetically modified to be incapable of flight.  There is also inevitable “wastage” of eggs, and death of excess silkworms due to starvation.

There are many cruelty-free alternatives to silk such as nylon, rayon, milkweed seed pod fibers, silk-cotton tree and ceiba tree filaments. They are beautiful, comfortable, easy to clean, readily available and often far less expensive to purchase.  For a list of ethical clothing stores that feature products made of vegan materials in Australia see: www.ethical.org.au.

Author: Kathryn Stone
Vice President Vegan Rising