This lady I know who was a previous vegan said that among leather, meat, dairy etc... I should also rule out wool? I know that to get wool, you don't kill the animal, but is sheering sheep as inhumane as getting dairy products from cows? I never thought of wool being a bad thing....is it?
I never really thought of it as a being inhumane either....I mean...wouldn't they NEED their coats taken off them occasionally? They might get too hot... But maybe she meant because the shearers don't treat the sheep very well...maybe the sheep are in bad conditions or something... I don't know...sorry I'm not much help!
i guess everyone has their own reasons. i stopped wearing wool when i went back to england to visit some family a while back. we went for a walk out in the country and walked past a field of sheep that had just been shorn and it was a bit rainy and windy out, and these animals were lying there and they looked so sore and worn out. i just felt really bad for them. it reminded me of like, if you had a really bad stomach ache and you're lying around feeling like shit, only these poor buggers were out in the coldness without their coats. and i mean yeah i guess they'd have to have their coats cut off every so often, but the reason their wool grows so much is because of hormones (or so i've heard) and the people shearing them probably have to work pretty fast to get through all those sheep and i just know that if someone was cutting off my coat with big giant scissors, i'd want them to be going slowly and carefully. on top of that i guess is the sentiment that we shouldn't use things from animals, just cuz its explotative etc. i don't know if this helped at all - just how i feel!
I don't buy wool anymore, it's is a product of cruelty and there are so many alternatives. Sheep don't need to have the whole lot taken off in one go, they moult like other animals. That and without their breeding they wouldn't have such a thick heavy coat in the first place. It addition to the site Elle mentioned, woolisbaad.com, has useful information.
wow...that save the sheep and wool is baad links were really sad...yikes, I didn't think a sheeps life was so terrible... I may think twice about wool products...
Today's sheep do not moult anymore; if no one shears them, they'll die of the heat & the weight of the wool... Sad but true, they're bred that far... Only a few breeds like the Sooy[sp?] still loses their wool naturally.
I guess the point is that they're sheared inhumanely....they could be taken care of, but it seems that sheep are getting abused as well...its such a shame
this makes me really sad, because i just bought a couple wool items, not thinking that wool was bad... i bought a jacket, and a sweater. it pisses me off though, because i'm an avid thrift store shopper, and i love "old-man" type sweaters and such. most of them are made with wool, which pisses me off. usually, i refrain from buying, just because they itch and i hate them. but the sweater i got isn't itchy, and i usually wear something long-sleeved under the jacket. so i over-looked it. but, now i feel really bad. what i think i'll do though, is keep the two wools items i bought, since i already dished out the money for them, and money is a rare thing for me. and i'll just never buy anything wool again. i'm glad i saw this.
I never really bought wool sweaters, etc because most of them made me itch like crazy. But I do love to knit, and I've knit a lot w/wool (especially stuff when my daughter was still wearing cloth diapers and I made her diaper covers). I usually get wool from humane farms though, that are usually family one and do not mistreat their animals. It really limits what I can buy, but at least I feel better about it. And I never buy merino wool anymore after reading an article about muesling (sp?).
among other lovely side effects of breeding for wool (compare a sheep to a llama or alpaca-these guys have been messed with less) is cutching, which is when the dags are cut off. If you are snacking, finish before you read on. Dags are manure/urine stuck in mats at the base of the tail. cuts here almost always infect from the fecal bacteria. plus when the wool quality/quantity drops, what do you think happens to the sheep?
some sheep do need a trim now and then...anyone here heard of Shrek? He was a sheep that escaped and was found six years later in a cave.... he looks a little warm http://www.lbrought.com/Shrek.html and yes, they did shave him - all his 25kg coat is gone now, but he has a woolen blanket to keep him warm and he's going to be in playboy....
Shearing sheep does not more harm than getting a buzz cut harms a human. Wool socks are the best socks for hiking since they wick moisture away from your feet and therefore help you avoid blisters. By all means try to do some real hiking in cotton or synthetic socks and see what happens. Your feet area gonna look like hamburger.
I think the point here is awareness. Know where you get yo shit man. Seriously, you should all be buying your clothes and personal care products locally anyway, and those folks usually always know the origins of their merchandise. Be careful not to buy australian wool if you choose to buy wool. Vegans usually don't buy wool, myself included. Occasionally I may pick up something second hand, but I don't really think that counts. Peace.
awww...he's all fuzzy and fluffy! I wanna hug him! he looks so....well, huggable! Like a ball. Yes, I believe he did need a trim. And he escaped from shaving? rofl. That's funny...yet can't mean anything good... ???Playboy you say?!- What's he ummmm...gonna do there?
i don't know... But that's New Zealand for you - the biggest local celebrity of 2004 was a sheep. Even the Prime Minister went to meet him, his shearing was shown on national prime time tv...oh dear
