Wearing animals sounds like something only Cruella de Vil would do, but sadly, there are still many people who partake in this heartless fashion trend. These images alone should motivate everyone to #WearVegan:
Wool
In the wool industry, young lambs’ ears are hole-punched and their tails are cut off—without painkillers.
Wool shearers are paid by volume, not by the hour, which often leads shearers to kick and punch frightened sheep in order to get them to “cooperate.”
Each year, millions of sheep are shipped from Australia to the Middle East and North Africa on crowded ships. Those who survive the journey are slaughtered by workers who slit the animals’ throats while they’re still conscious.
Fur
No federal laws protect animals on fur farms, and the killing methods used at these facilities are gruesome.
Animals might be anally or vaginally electrocuted, gassed with engine exhaust, or poisoned.
Some animals wake up while they’re being skinned.
Angora
Would you still wear an angora sweater if you knew that bunnies scream as workers rip their fur out by the fistful?
Or that some are stretched out and bound by their limbs, just so their hair can be painfully pulled out?
Rabbits whose fur is cut or sheared off also suffer. Their front and back legs are tightly tethered and the sharp cutting tools often wound them as they struggle desperately to escape.
Leather
Every year, an estimated 2 million Indian cows are tied up, thrown onto trucks, and transported thousands of miles to Bangladesh to be killed for their skins.
In slaughterhouses, cows are sometimes still alive and kicking when their skin is torn off.
In case you didn’t know, dogs are used for leather, too.
Down
Most down comes from birds who are killed for meat and foie gras (fatty liver) or from “live-plucked” ducks and geese.
In a PETA exposé, video footage revealed that live geese’s feathers were ripped out. Other birds were found dead and decaying in crates and ponds or tossed outside like trash.
Plucking may begin when birds are just 10 weeks old and be repeated every six to seven weeks until they are slaughtered around age 4.
Need help “veganizing” your closet? It’s easy: Just check the labels on clothing before you make a purchase and don’t buy anything that contains wool, leather, angora, fur, or down.
For more ways to help animals used for clothing, check out our “Who Are You Wearing” campaign!