Now Up: Anti-Wool Ads Come to Heart of Sheep Country
For Immediate Release:
1 April 2019
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]
NOW UP: ANTI-WOOL ADS COME TO HEART OF SHEEP COUNTRY
PETA Campaign in North Wales Raises Awareness of Plight of Sheep Who Are Kicked, Punched, and Killed for Food and Clothing
North Wales – With spring upon us, PETA’s anti-wool campaign is heating up. Using a photograph from its exposé of the wool industry, the animal rights group has placed four ads in Holyhead and Llandudno that show an abandoned shorn sheep who has collapsed on the ground with a seemingly broken leg, alongside the words “I Don’t Belong on Your Plate or in Your Wardrobe. Choose Vegan”.
(Please credit Life Out There Photography for the images)
The images are available here, here, and here.
“When every single PETA exposé of the wool industry has revealed cruelty to sheep, some of whom are left with bloody wounds and broken limbs, there’s simply no excuse for anyone to choose a woolly jumper” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “We’re urging the public to show compassion for gentle sheep by seeking out animal-friendly vegan options instead.”
PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”, and the group opposes speciesism, which is a supremacist worldview. Since 2014, PETA has released 11 exposés of 99 sheep-shearing facilities on four continents, including in the UK, and systemic abuse was found in every one. On farms across England and Scotland, shearers were found punching sheep in the face, stamping and standing on their heads and necks, and beating them with electric clippers. One farmer was recorded dragging two ailing sheep into a shed, where he left them to suffer and die.
The wool industry also wreaks havoc on the environment: manure generated by farmed animals has significantly contributed to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases, large-scale grazing has led to vegetation change and soil erosion, and faecal matter and sheep “dip” (a toxic chemical used to rid sheep of parasites) pollute local waterways. The “Pulse of the Fashion Industry” report ranked wool in fifth place on its list of materials that have the highest cradle-to-gate environmental impact per kilogram.
Fortunately, many animal- and Earth-friendly vegan alternatives to wool are available today – from hemp and coconut fibres treated with enzymes extracted from the oyster mushroom to organic cotton, bamboo, and even banana bark.
As part of PETA’s work to end wool-industry cruelty, the group has launched a campaign urging boohoo group to stay true to its word and ban wool from future lines – as the fashion giant promised to do in February before backtracking on its pledge.
More images are available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
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