‘Beaten’ and ‘Bruised’ Activists Cradle Shorn ‘Sheep’ in Wool Week Protest

For Immediate Release:

11 October 2018

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

‘BEATEN’ AND ‘BRUISED’ ACTIVISTS CRADLE SHORN ‘SHEEP’ IN WOOL WEEK PROTEST

Action Comes After Video Exposé of British Wool Industry Reveals Sheep Are Punched, Kicked, and Slammed to Ground

London – Today, during UK Wool Week, three “beaten” and “bruised” PETA supporters descended on the Wool Care installation in London’s Covent Garden holding a shorn “sheep” and signs proclaiming, “British Wool: Sheep Kicked and Beaten” and “The Naked Truth: Wool Hurts”.

Images are available here, here, and here.

The protest comes in the wake of the first-ever video exposé of the British wool industry, which revealed that at 25 UK farming sheds visited by a PETA Asia eyewitness, shearers punched sheep in the face, stamped and stood on their heads and necks, and beat and jabbed them in the face with electric clippers.

“Sheep are gentle prey animals who are petrified of even being held down, yet they endure vicious beatings, bloody wounds, and broken limbs in the hideously cruel British wool industry,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “We want to encourage passers-by to ditch wool this winter in favour of soft and cosy cruelty-free materials for which no animal had to suffer.”

PETA Asia also documented that shearers left large, bloody wounds on sheep’s bodies as a result of fast, rough shearing and that they stitched up gaping wounds with a needle and thread and without administering any pain relief. The eyewitness never saw sheep receive any veterinary care, including for painful conditions such as mastitis (an udder infection) and prolapsed uteruses. One farmer was filmed dragging two injured sheep who were unable to walk into a shed, where he left them to suffer without care. They eventually died. Several others died during shearing from possible shock resulting from the rough handling – or what one farmer called a “heart attack”.

Such abuse is not limited to the UK: eight exposés by PETA affiliates of 72 facilities on four continents have revealed that sheep are mutilated, abused, and skinned alive – even for “responsibly sourced” wool on so-called “sustainable” farms. Once they’re no longer considered useful for wool production, they’re packed onto crowded lorries and taken to abattoirs, where their throats are slit.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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