Wool & Cashmere Production
Wool and cashmere are often seen as staple materials for winter clothing, but is the animal suffering, impact on the environment, and impact on human health really necessary? This article delves into current industry standards, the welfare issues the animals face, the environmental footprint of the industry, and also the impacts this industry has on human health.
The Industry
Certain breeds of sheep, goats, rabbits, llamas, alpacas, musk oxen, and camels are used to produce different types of wool and cashmere. The different species create variations in “quality” and thus, have different demands [1]. In this article, we will focus on the three most common types, being sheep, goat, and rabbit.
The wool and meat industry are deeply entangled, with wool farmers often cross-breeding sheep for lamb production, while also selling older sheep as mutton or exporting them on live export ships. Many countries farm animals for wool and cashmere products, however, Australia, China, Russia, New Zealand, and Argentina are the largest producers [2].
Demand
Consumer demand for wool and cashmere comes in the form of clothing, blankets, horse rugs, saddle cloths, carpeting, insulation, and upholstery. Wool felt is also used for covering piano hammers, to absorb odors and noise in heavy machinery, for stereo speakers, toys, and arts and crafts.
Sheep Skin and Wool Welfare Issues
Sheep who are used for their skin and wool are subjected to a range of welfare issues. Sheepskin, like leather and fur, comes from sheep once they have been killed. Australia’s sheep numbers have declined from 180.9 million shorn in 1990-1991, to 67.1 million sheep shorn in 2019-2020 [3].
Merino Sheep.
Genetically modified
Sheep naturally produce just enough wool to survive the winter months. In their natural state, they would shed this coat for the summer months – meaning they do not need humans to remove it. Through selective breeding, humans have altered wild sheep to create the domestic Merino breed who produces more wool, while simultaneously removing their ability to naturally shed. Merino sheep have extra skin which increases the surface area and thus creates more wool [4].
Mulesing, Mutilations, and Castration
Sheep are non-native to Australia, and they are not naturally suited to the hot Australian climate – especially the Merino breed which is prone to flystrike. Flystrike is when flies lay eggs on soiled wool or open wounds, and maggots feed off of the sheep’s flesh. To combat this, farmers conduct mulesing on lambs, which involves cutting off their tail and breech skin to reduce the chance of soiling, often without pain relief [5]. Despite what the industry claims, mulesing has proven to cause pain and suffering in the lambs [6, 7].
Lambs have their ears punched so that a tag can be inserted. Males are also castrated with either a knife to their testicles or a rubber ring attached around their scrotum to cut off blood supply until the testicles drop off [8]. All of these mutilations can be done without using pain killers and are common practice in the global wool industry [9].
Sheep in Australia undergo over 50 million operations a year - operations that would constitute cruelty if performed on dogs or cats [10]. Farming them has extremely high rates of mortality, which are considered “normal”: “20-40% of lambs die at birth or before the age of eight weeks from cold or starvation; eight million mature sheep die every year from disease, lack of shelter, and neglect. One million of these die within 30 days of shearing” [11].
Credit: PETA
Shearing
There is a common misconception that sheep are not harmed in the process of shearing. While domestic sheep do need to be sheared due to selective breeding, the commercial process causes suffering. Workers are paid on the volume of sheep they shear, rather than by the hour. The average shearer will shear approximately 200 sheep a day, allocating them just 2-3 minutes per sheep [12]. As a result, sheep are roughly handled, and suffer from cuts and mutilations.
Credit: PETA Australia
PETA Undercover Investigation
Multiple undercover PETA investigations have exposed the cruelty involved with shearing sheep. Undercover footage from Australian shearing sheds shows sheep being kicked, punched, stepped on, and mutilated by the shearers. Some footage revealed sheep were being stitched up without pain relief [13].
Slaughter and Live Export
Sheep can live for 10-12 years, with some even reaching 20 years! The wool industry, however, considers them to be no longer profitable after just 5-6 years and they are sent to slaughter. Alternatively, they are exported. Every year, over 1.1 million sheep are forced onto live-export ships and sent to slaughterhouses overseas. This distressing journey can take three to five weeks, and once the animals leave they are not protected by Australian law [14].
Credit: Animals Australia
Cashmere Welfare Issues
Approximately 90% of the world’s cashmere comes from China and Mongolia [15].
Shearing
The shearing process is extremely stressful for the goats as it robs them of their natural insulation, leaving them vulnerable to cold temperatures and serious illnesses. The goats who are used for cashmere, mohair, and Pashmina are shorn in the middle of winter, during a time when they need their coats most, because they would naturally shed their coat as temperatures begin to rise [16]. As a result, many animals die from the cold. In all countries, once the goats are no longer of use, they are sent to slaughter as “cheap” meat.
Credit: PETA
Undercover Investigation
A PETA Asia investigation into the cashmere industry in China and Mongolia, revealed the extreme cruelty to the cashmere goats during slaughter. The video exposé shows goats screaming in immense pain and fear as the workers tore their hair out using sharp metal combs, stepped on them, and twisted their limbs. Their throats were then slit at slaughterhouses and they were left to die [17].
Other Issues
Due to the “high-class” nature of the Cashmere fabric, any faults in a goat’s fleece results in the goat being deemed useless to the cashmere industry, and it will be slaughtered for cheap meat. In fact, farmers are advised to expect to cull at least half of their goats due to fleece defects [418].
Angora Rabbit Welfare Issues
Australia does not have any Angora rabbit farms, and all angora wool is imported from China (90%), South America, and Europe [19].
Farms
Angora rabbits are typically kept inside small, filthy, barren, wire cages, unable to exhibit any of their natural behaviours. Like animals on fur farms, they develop stereotypic behaviours (abnormal behaviours) [420].
Live Plucking
Angora rabbits repeatedly have their fur brutally ripped out from their skin while they are still alive. This can be done via plucking or combing. Their bloodied bodies are then put back into the cages where they will stay until their fur grows back. They will then undergo the same horrifying ordeal again [21].
Credit: PETA
Undercover Investigation: Angora Farming
A PETA exposé on Chinese farms showed that rabbits are plucked while fully conscious and alive, as their bodies can be abused for two to three years before they are killed [21]. Angora rabbits in other countries are also not safe from this. An investigation by One Voice on French farms, also found that rabbits were tied to the table as fur was ripped from their skins [22].
Environmental impacts
Wool and cashmere are often presented as more environmentally friendly options in comparison to faux items – but is this really true?
In addition to causing the suffering and death of billions of animals every single year, the production of these materials contributes to the destruction of land, resource use, waste production and pollution, chemical pollution, and a loss of biodiversity. Despite what we are made to believe as consumers, there is little that is “natural” about clothing made from the skin or wool of an animal.
Resources, Land Clearing, and Biodiversity Loss
Animals used for all types of materials require immense quantities of land, food, water, and energy. When looking at resources used to raise the animals, we also have to look at the resources used to grow, transport, and process their food. Animal agriculture (and the feed for the animals in the animal agricultural industry) is utilising 50% of habitable land. In comparison, urban and built-up land makes up just 1% [23]! Land clearing and animal grazing (predominantly cows, sheep, and goats), leads to soil compaction, increases soil salinity and erosion, and causes a decrease in biodiversity [24]. For most animals, water is also used during the slaughter process and additionally for the processing of their skin or wool.
Credit: ACT Sustainably
Case Study
A study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Snow Leopard Trust revealed a worrying link between the cashmere trade and the decay of ecosystems that are home to some of the planet’s most spectacular large mammals. The study found that “as pastoralists expand goat herds to increase profits for the cashmere trade in Western markets, wildlife icons from the Tibetan Plateau to Mongolia suffer—including endangered snow leopard, wild yak, chiru, saiga, Bactrian camel, gazelles, and other remarkable but already endangered species of remote Central Asia,” [25]. This can have disastrous impacts on natural ecosystems and has the ability to destroy our environment by altering the food web forever.
Cashmere goats must consume 10% of their body weight in food every day, and they eat the roots of grasses. This works to prevent regrowth and makes the industry a significant contributor to soil degradation and desertification. Already, 65% of Mongolia’s grasslands are degraded and 90% of the country is in extreme danger of desertification [26].
The Chicago Tribune has reported that China is raising so many goats for the cashmere industry that they have grazed “Chinese grasslands down to a moonscape, unleashing some of the worst dust storms on record. This, in turn, fuels a plume of pollution heavy enough to reach the skies over North America” [27].
Killing Wild Animals
Farmed animals often need to be protected against wild animals, which ultimately involves killing native species that are competitors or predators. The Australian government permits the slaughter of kangaroos and dingoes as they are considered a pest to the sheep farmers (more to come on this issue soon) [28, 29]. In the US, coyotes are also murdered by the millions every year by ranchers as they are considered a threat to the sheep. Hundreds of thousands of coyotes are poisoned, shot and burned alive every year by ranchers and the U.S. government [30].
Waste, Pollution, and Chemical Use
In addition to being resource-intensive, any form of animal farming is responsible for waste production and pollution. Waste comes in the form of animal manure, dropped food, lost fur and feathers, as well as unused body parts after processing [31, 62]. We also have to factor in the production of their food, transportation, electricity for housing, slaughter facilities, and waste from the slaughter process. Farming animals and their feed also requires the use of pesticides, vaccines, and antibiotics, which pollute the environment and can create antibiotic-resistant disease [33]. Material items also have the added issue of chemical use during the processing phase, and thus contributes to chemical pollution. This is because after an animal has been slaughtered, his or her skin must be treated with toxic chemicals to prevent it from rotting and decomposing [34].
Raw wool contains fat, suint, plant materials, grease, and minerals, which must be removed before it can be used for products. The contaminants equate to 30-70% of the total fleece weight [35]. The cleaning process is known as scouring and uses a combination of detergents, wetting agents, bleaching agents, and emulsifiers before further processing, dyeing and finishing [36].
Health Impacts
Farming animals for their skin and wool not only affects the animals and the environment, it also impacts humans.
Slaughterhouse workers
Mental Illness
After the animals have been exploited for their fibres, they are sent to slaughterhouses. Slaughterhouse work has proven to potentially cause severe mental illnesses due to the harsh environment. The workers are expected to kill hundreds to thousands of animals every hour, at high speeds in cold conditions. Studies conducted across the globe have found that workers have high levels of anxiety, anger, hostility and psychoticism. They also can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS), and violent dreams, with many workers seeking treatment similar to that used to help war veterans [37, 38, 39, 40]. Symptoms of PITS include depression, paranoia, panic and dissociation [41].
Physical Issues
The intense noise in the slaughterhouse can result in noise-induced hearing loss [42]. Due to the processing of meat, extreme temperatures are needed, and this greatly increases the risks of frostbite and hypothermia [43]. Workers also commonly suffer from upper limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders [44]. Exposure to harsh chemicals and bacteria, viruses, fungi and ectoparasites can cause serious diseases [45].
Processing Plant Workers
Those who work with wool and cashmere are exposed to the toxic chemicals which can cause serious skin conditions, tuberculosis, blindness, and gastrointestinal issues. Due to exposure, children are also being born with severe mental and physical disabilities [46].
What’s Next
“Cruelty is a fashion statement we can all do without”.
Rue McClanahan
There are a range of wool and cashmere alternatives that exist that have a lower environmental footprint than their animal counterparts. By choosing to purchase these alternatives, you are helping to end the suffering of animals, and taking a stand against the impact of the industry on people and the planet!