Why Veg?
Clothing
It's easy to forget what our clothes are made of when they don't look anything like the animals they came from. Leather usually comes from cows but is sometimes made from pigs, goats, sheep, and other animals. Most leather comes from other countries in which animal welfare laws are non-existent or just not enforced, such as China and India. These animals endure the same conditions as factory farm animals--small cages, branding, dehorning, and castration.
"Like every other industry, tanneries have shifted their operations from developed to undeveloped nations, where labor is cheap and environmental regulations are lax... Sadly, some of the most shocking video we have ever taken is of the Indian leather trade... Animals who are too sick or injured to walk are dragged and beaten; chili peppers are rubbed into their eyes and their tails are broken. At the slaughterhouse, cows are bound by all four feet and tossed on their sides onto the filthy, blood-covered floor. Their throats are cut with dull knives, and other cows look helplessly on as their companions slowly bleed to death."
(The Huffington Post, "Why Leather is a Progressive Issue", Bruce Friedrich, May 1st 2007)
Animals raised for fur include minks, fox, rabbits, cats, dogs, and chinchillas. Most of these animals are used to living in wild habitats (especially mink) and often suffer from cage madness - pacing back and forth, self-mutilation, gnawing at the bars, and sometimes even cannibalism.
"How humane are fur farms? Because fur farming is the only sector of animal agriculture unregulated by the federal government, anything goes... To kill the animals without damaging their fur, neck-breaking and electrocution are recommended by fur trade associations in Europe, the United States and Canada... Anal electrocution is also suggested."
(Martha Stewart)
Taking wool from sheep seems harmless but when it becomes a business it's a whole other story:
"Shearing is generally seen as an innocuous procedure, like getting a haircut, even as a kindness by humans who relieve the sheep of those hot, heavy fleeces. It may come as a surprise to learn that wild sheep shed their wool naturally, and that it is only through selective breeding that farmed sheep have become dependent on humans for such a basic aspect of their welfare. Instead of growing a thick coat for winter and shedding it in summer, as they would do in nature, they are now subject to the vagaries of wool prices and the schedules of farmers, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. An estimated one million sheep die in the 30 days after shearing. Following the deaths from hypothermia of 1200 sheep near Bairnsdale in April 2004, a livestock manager advised, with a noted lack of concern, that "it was not unusual for freshly shorn sheep to die in the cold weather". Similarly, a British industry spokesman remarks enthusiastically "winter shearing is the future of sheep farming. You take their coats off, they have to eat more to keep warm. You end up with a better meat-to-bone-and-fat ratio."
(http://www.alv.org.au/issues/sheep.php)
Check these out:
*Caft.org.uk - Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
*Inside the Wool Industry
*http://uga.edu/sos/clothing.html
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