Fiber Optics: Wool Lovers Battle Animal-Rights Crowd Over Sheep Shearing
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To the dismay of wool proponents who tout their eco-friendly credentials, they have landed on the wrong side of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The animal-rights group recently erected billboards in Boston and New York’s Times Square that display a nude picture of actress Alicia Silverstone with the phrase “Leave Wool Behind” across her backside.
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Lucky Brand stopped using the antiwool tag after speaking with some critics, said Chief Executive Carlos Alberini. “It was never our intention to offend anyone with this hangtag,” he said. After clothing retailer Duluth Trading Co. recently advertised a fleece-lined shirt with the tagline, “No smelly animal fur here, just soft, furnace-warm 200-gram polyester fleece,” retribution was swift.
“I beg of you, please stop throwing wool under the bus,” Ms. Parkes wrote in an Instagram post. “You know as well as I do that commercial wool has no scent at all, and that it comes from a living animal who goes on living a very good life,” said the 49-year-old who lives in Portland, Maine. Fleece is just plastic and isn’t biodegradable, she said. The post drew thousands of supporters, and an about-face from Duluth Trading. The company has taken antiwool statements out of future catalogs after hearing concerns, said a spokeswoman. “We have a deep appreciation of the wool industry,” she said. December’s catalog, she said, was a “celebration of wool.”
At the heart of the debate is whether shearing helps or hurts sheep. PETA and the Humane Society of the U.S. say sheep farming for wool is inhumane, and PETA cited undercover videos the organization took of bloody shearing on big sheep farms in Australia. The wool community says a big part of its problem is small U.S. farms are taking the fall for rougher treatment and controversial practices employed by a few large wool producers.
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Every so often, a wool sheep is found that hasn’t been sheared for years, emerging from a cave or a remote mountain pass looking like a bulbous duster on spindly legs. Lucky Brand’s tag pictured Shrek, a merino wool sheep found in a New Zealand cave that became famous in 2004 for evading shearing for six years. Weighed down by too much wool, sheep can suffer heat stress, inability to feed babies, lack of vision and maggot infestation, said Susan Myers, president of the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/fiber-optics-wool-lovers-battle-animal-rights-crowd-over-sheep-shearing-11546884830 (paid subscription)
= new reply since forum marked as read
Is this the WSJ trying to make liberals look foolish again?
No worries if you don't, though.
with microscopic particles from washing machines dumping particles in our streams. The stuff kills fish and other aquatic beings. Our oceans are slowly being polluted with this horrible crap.
This sounds to me like some people are taking money (knowingly or not) from big oil interests that wants everything made of synthetics. I smell Koch in the air!.....
Merino wool is expensive but worth the investment if one takes good care of their garments. No itch at all, and I have sensitive skin. The winter socks are to die for, especially for us older folks.
Cedar oil spray keeps moths away. Just take some wood shavings (preferably cedar), spray them with cedar oil, stuff them into an old sock and hang them in your closets. Smells good too! Just re-spry the bags every few months to keep them effective.
PETA can kiss my wool-covered behind.........
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