37 Million Shoppers React to UGG’s Cruelty to Sheep

PETA Video Targeting Shoe Retailer Nets Massive Support on Social Media

For Immediate Release:
November 21, 2016

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

In less than a week, PETA’s video “Why UGGs Are Ugly in Under 60 Seconds” has received more than 37 million views on Facebook—making it the single most popular post on any PETA Facebook page ever.

The video—which has received hundreds of thousands of “sad” and “angry” reactions—juxtaposes UGG’s well-known boots with footage of sheep in the wool industry being beaten, punched, stomped on, and left with open, bleeding wounds from shearing.

“PETA’s video shows that every pair of UGG boots supports the ugly, gruesome abuse and killing of gentle sheep,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “As millions of shoppers learn that the wool industry mutilates and kills these animals, more people than ever are giving its cruelly produced items the boot.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—has released five exposés recorded at 39 facilities on three continents revealing that sheep are mutilated, abused, and skinned alive in the international wool industry. Shearers are often paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast, violent work that can lead to gaping wounds on sheep’s bodies. The wounds are then stitched closed—without giving the animals any painkillers.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.