Hair-Pulling Hurts: Do You Know Angora, Down, and Cashmere?
Ye-owch! No one likes having their hair ripped out. For most humans, hair-pulling incidents are quick accidents, but for animals in the fashion industry, such as those used for down and cashmere, the painful stripping of their feathers or hair is a repeated, scream-worthy nightmare.
Which Animals Have Their Feathers or Hair Pulled Out?
Geese for Their Down Feathers
Like many humans, geese mate for life. The loving, loyal birds raise families together year after year. If one of them dies, they may mourn their partner’s death for months or even years before mating again. Sometimes, geese widows or widowers may be so overwhelmed by grief that they refuse to “remarry.”
The coldhearted and cruel down industry often plucks sensitive geese alive to get their down, the soft layer of feathers closest to a bird’s skin. To prevent the geese from fleeing during this painful plucking, workers stepped on their delicate wings and necks and tightly bound their feet together. Once the workers are finished ripping out their feathers, many of the birds, paralyzed with fear, are left with raw, bloodied skin and gaping wounds. Some even die as a result.
Goats for ‘Cashmere’
What’s the cost of a cashmere sweater? For many goats, it’s their lives. The cashmere industry robs them of their natural insulation, leaving them vulnerable to cold temperatures and illness, and workers kill them once their fleece production declines. To make cashmere, many workers violently rip out goats’ soft undercoats while they struggle and scream in pain.
Goats communicate through vocalizations called bleating, which allows them to express emotions and for other goats to identify them. Imagine how scary it is for communicative goats to hear their flock mates scream while their fleece is ripped out of their bodies for cashmere.
Rabbits for ‘Angora’
In nature, rabbits live in scrupulously clean burrows and spend their time foraging for fresh, leafy food with members of their family. But in the angora wool industry, workers force gentle rabbits to live in dirty, cramped cages. Every few months, workers often tie them down and tear the rabbits’ fur out of their sensitive skin. The rabbits scream out in pain, and many of them appear to go into severe shock.
Not Your Hair? Don’t Wear It!
The best thing that you can do for geese, goats, and rabbits is to refuse to buy anything that comes from their bodies. It’s easy to check the label when you’re shopping. If it includes the word “cashmere,” “angora,” or “down,” don’t buy it. Only wear animal-free fabrics.
