Clothing/Cosmetics and Animal Abuse Articles from All-Creatures.org

Sheep and Lambs - The Facts

From There's an Elephant in the Room blog
June 2023

1.6 million lambs and sheep are slaughtered globally every single day for their dead flesh to be eaten (600 million every year). Over 250 million sheep mothers are used every day for the breastmilk that their bodies made for lambs who have been taken from them and slaughtered so their milk can be used to make ‘gourmet’ cheeses.

Image by Konrad Lozinski from a Flickr series

Almost 1.7 MILLION lambs and sheep are slaughtered globally every single DAY for their dead flesh to be eaten. That’s over 600 MILLION every year.

And that number excludes countless millions who die or are slaughtered due to disease or injury before ever reaching a slaughterhouse, or while they are on their way to a slaughterhouse. This is particularly true of new-born lambs and the common practice of ‘winter lambing’.

As the reproduction of all our species victims is timed by their oppressors to maximise profits, sheep give birth in the coldest weather in many countries so that the supply of infants for humans to eat will coincide with times of high consumer demand; times like the ‘festive’ season, easter etc. In barren fields and sub-zero temperatures, deprived of shelter, millions of new-borns simply die of cold or else their mothers die of birthing complications. It’s easy come, easy go for an industry where lives are no more than resources to generate profit.

In addition to this over 250 MILLION sheep mothers are used every day for the breastmilk their bodies make for infants who have been taken from them and slaughtered. Their breastmilk is used to make a lengthy list of ‘gourmet’ cheeses.

And then of course many if not most breeds of sheep have been designed and selectively bred to be multi-functional from a profit perspective. This means that slaughter for their dead flesh generally occurs after an existence being exploited for their wool, their reproductive potential and their breast milk.

And like you possibly once did, I used to fall for the idea that wool was harmless. See Why Wool Matters. I know better now. Appalled? You should be. The first thing we can all do is remove our personal demands from the regime of oppression that makes victims from defenceless and innocent creatures. That means we stop refusing to be vegan.

It’s literally the very least we can do.

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