Meet Pete. He's from Australia. April 24, 2009
Posted by Rachel-O | Permalink | Comments ( 14 ) | TrackBack
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wool sheep mulesing live export Australia
If you're still wearing wool, I'm about to give you five reasons to stop.
Their names are Faith, Lily, Mae, Pete, and Lucy, and they are five sheep from Australia who were exploited for the wool industry.
Australia produces 25% of the world's wool—this wool comes from sheep like Pete.
Pete died about an hour after this picture was taken, having suffered alone for weeks.
In Australia, sheep are specifically bred to have extra wrinkly skin, which means farmers can get more wool from each animal. This obviously makes it much hotter, and it causes animals to die of heat exhaustion in the summer. The wrinkles also collect urine and moisture—which attract flies, who then lay eggs in the sheep's skin. This is called flystrike, and the maggots can actually eat the sheep alive, like they did Pete.
Australian ranchers perform a barbaric operation—mulesing—carving pieces of skin off of the sheep. This is done to cause smooth, scarred skin that won't harbor fly eggs, yet the bloody wounds often get flystrike before they heal and the cycle continues.
After years of this abuse, Australian sheep are crammed onto filthy boats for live export to the Middle East—a trip that many do not survive—where they are dragged to slaughter and have their throats cut while they are conscious and struggling. Their flesh is then sold to be eaten.
How can you help animals like Pete? Don't buy wool! Too many people think sheep just can't survive without someone coming along to shear them (just like a cow needs to be milked, right?). Know your facts and pass them on!
I never want an animal to have to suffer so I can wear a sweater, do you?
Stay loud!
Comments
that's sick...in a really bad way.
Posted by: cody at April 24, 2009 6:43 PMI'm Australian and it makes me sick that we have to be associated with this.
It's beyond cruel and so unnecessary
Happy ANZAC day!!!
Posted by: Brianna at April 24, 2009 10:16 PMThats makes me really sad,
I cant believe ppl could be so hardless and still
wear wool.
I personaly have never worne wool and i know i never will.
Agreed! No animal should die for something as stupid as a sweater.
There are better fabrics, so why are we even USING wool? It's just amazingly cruel and pointless. :( Poor Pete.
Posted by: Marcela at April 26, 2009 5:01 PMomg thats horrible!
I can't believe people actually do this to animals and live with it, without feeling guilty. poor pete, what did he do to deserve this? its not fair at all
'I never want an animal to have to suffer so I can wear a sweater, do you?'
sadly too many people dont care :(.
i never wear wool, its horrible and itchy anyways, because its made for SHEEP, NOT humans!
I am not a woolly bully! We don't need to wear wool to stay warm when there are so many cruelty-free alternatives.
Posted by: Little_Lotte at April 27, 2009 2:45 PMaww come on australia!! Thats the one place I would love to travel to cause it looked like such a nice place
now that i see this, it saddens me greatly 8(
even before i started to be disgusted by wool, i never liked it!
it's so itchy!
i hate when i hear about this. i LOVE Australia, and i choose to believe it's perfect, but with this plus the kangaroo annihilation that has been going on lately, i'm getting doubts
Posted by: Cate at April 27, 2009 9:51 PMthats really terrible
I just got home from Australia and I'm going back in July. I'm going to Queensland where there are several sheep parks, they basically consist of people petting animals and playing with wool. I never knew about the cruelty behind it.
After I read this I messaged my friends there and we're organizing a little something something now :)
This is so WRONG, no animal should have to suffer just for clothing purposes!
Posted by: Chantal at April 29, 2009 12:19 AMThat's awful.
Posted by: at April 29, 2009 12:00 PMPost a comment
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That's just horrible! Poor Pete and all the other sheep who endure such torture. =(
Posted by: Tonya at April 24, 2009 6:41 PMNever be a Wooly Bully!