* Australia produces 80% of all wool worldwide. Flocks
usually consist of
thousands of sheep, so individual attention to animals is out of the
question.
* Weeks-old lambs have their tails cut off and are
castrated without anesthetic.
Australian farmers also cut huge strips of flesh off their rumps in a
misguided
attempt to prevent maggot infestation.
* To avoid losing precious wool, sheep are sheared
before they would naturally
shed their winter coats. Every year, an estimated 1 million sheep die of
exposure due to premature shearing and lack of shelter.
* Older sheep are shipped to the Middle East for
slaughter, often traveling huge
distances overland to the coast where they are held in crowded feedlots.
Those
who don't die from stress and injuries are shipped on enormous
14-tier-high
ships, mired in their own waste for three weeks or more. Those who
survive the
journey have their throats slit while fully conscious. Sick sheep and
newborns
are thrown overboard alive.
YOU CAN HELP:
Avoid wool, sheepskin, lanolin and other products made from sheep. There
are
lots of alternatives to wool -- most are lighter weight, cheaper and
faster drying!
From PeTA's Animal Times, Winter 1997
Go on to Well Puppies
Return to 11 April 1999 Issue
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