SAY NO TO WOOL - Compassion is the Fashion

    Because there is a market for the fleece and skins of sheep, these gentle animals who feel pain, fear, and loneliness are treated as nothing more than wool-producing machines. If they were left alone and not genetically manipulated, they would grow just enough wool to protect themselves from extreme temperatures. 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. One eyewitness says, "[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 fifty 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. Mulesing is when large chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals'' backsides, usually with no painkillers.
    Within just weeks of birth, lambs' ears are hole-punched, their tails are chopped off, and the males are castrated without anesthetics. Male lambs are castrated when they are between two to eight WEEKS old, either by making an incision and cutting their testicles out ot with a rubber ring used to cut off blood supply - one of the most painful methods of castration possible! Each and every year, hundred of lambs die before the age of eight weeks from exposure or starvation, and mature sheep die every year from disease, lack of shelter, and neglect.
    Millions of these sheep are who survive on the farms are shipped to the Middle East on crowded multilevel ships. These live exports, which can last for weeks go to countries where animal welfare standards are non-existent. These tortured sheep are dragged off the ships, loaded onto trucks, and dragged by their ears and legs to often regulated slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious.
    No amount of fluff can hide the fact that anyone who buys wool supports a cruel and bloody industry. There are plenty of durable, stylish, and warm fabrics available that aren't made from wool or any animal skins. Please join me and the millions of people all over the world who know that compassion is the fashion. Save a sheep - don't buy wool.