Hellobee Boards

glad I never bought them!

Yikes. Now I'm really glad I never bought them!

I have never owned a pair, but OMG. WTH is wrong with humanity?!?!

@mrsjyw: You know, for a second i read "eggs"...

I actually spent seven years working for a lamb export processing plant and whilst I can't speak for every facility, our process was as humane as you can get.

Hides / sheepskin are usually a by-product and sheep / lambs are primarily slaughtered for their meat.

I have no qualms wearing sheepskin or leather or eating lamb.

That is sad. I have no problem with the slaughter of animals and use of animal products, but prefer they be treated humanely in the process (although some believe this statement is an oxymoron). I'm no vegetarian, but why must the animals be tortured and treated so horrendously.

Having been raised on a farm where we produced animals for food and leather and an Animal Science major, I have to shake my head at the article to a degree. PETA is notorious for being inflammatory and one-sided, they are quoted and cited several times in this article.

Yes- I have to agree that it is very important to know where your products come from, both in clothing and food. That leather purse that gets carried around every day wasn't shaved off of a sheep or cow either- it's treated skin. Frankly, shaving the wool off a sheep and artificially attaching it to a backing won't result in a very high quality product. The term "vegan leather" often cracks me up in places like Zulily- it's a cloth, rubber, and oil based fake leather.

The wool industry is huge in Australia and New Zealand (not necessarily related to the companies listed in the article, researching each company is important), as is using the rest of the sheep- the meats and other products. Many of the farms my university had exchanges with did a great job in treating their livestock well. No, I don't like factory farming, I prefer locally produced and humanely raised meats and grass fed beef. The US has come a long way in making the less pretty side of production farming more humane (Temple Grandin for example, an AMAZING woman). I'm not a McDonald's food fan, but their slaughter houses are actually pretty well handled.

Actually, I think the Ugg brand is made in China with mainly Chinese materials. There's nothing "Australian" about them besides the style. And I don't think the Chinese have much in the way of animal rights, so I'm guessing the sheep are treated horribly regardless. But unless you're avoiding everything from China, which is famous for treating workers and animals terribly, you can't be too surprised.

@mrsjyw: my guess would be that the video accurately depicts a SMALL portion of the industry. From what I know, the practice of "mulesing" (cutting the skin from live sheep) is being phased out in Australia and is pretty much non-existent in NZ due to our animal welfare standards.

With regards to the slaughtering, the methods shown weren't Halal which was interesting as I always thought the Middle East and North Africa were predominantly Muslim countries.

My other thought was that a stressed animal does not yield a high quality product so a lot of processing facilities do everything possible to keep the animals calm and happy prior to slaughter.

People are surprised that sheepskin boots are made of... sheepskin? Really? Hello? Bueller?

Why would you skin an animal alive? Surely you would kill it first to stop it thrashing about and harming you?

Im not really sure about this article, y'know.....! Seems a little sensationalist to me....

@lemondrop: You've had Temple as a professor? That is so awesome! I'm more familiar with her from her autism work but love that she puts her knowledge to use for animals.

I'm with those who aren't surprised and also a bit critical of the article..