Online giant Overstock.com is the latest retailer to ban the sale of rabbit fur, called angora. Angora hair or Angora fibre is the downy coat that covers the Angora rabbit. More than 230 Major Retailers have publicly refused to sell rabbit fur any more. They include Anthropologie, ASOS, Calvin Klein, French Connection, Gap Inc., Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, H &M, Esprit, Zappos, Forever 21, Eddie Bauer and Zara among others.
In 2013 several clothing retailers suspended the sourcing of products containing angora wool after Petas video evidence surfaced of live rabbits with their paws tied and bodies stretched out on racks, their hair being plucked raw in Chinese fur farms. These normally mute animals scream with pain as their fur is torn out. Many rabbits go into shock, even die. Other rabbits watch this torture from their cages , waiting fearfully for their turn.
In September 2016 French animal rights groupOne Voiceand its president Muriel Arnal released footage of how Angora rabbits are treated when bred for their fur in France . The video footage taken over a period of six months at rabbit rearing centres farms across the country shows animals being pinned down with their front and hind legs spread apart while workers pluck and rip the fur from their skin. In the video, the rabbits shriek as their fur is ripped off, leaving them completely bare except for their heads
These gentle, docile and clean animals rabbits, live their entire lives isolated in Chinese small, dirty wire cages surrounded by their own faeces. Rabbits are sociable, happy animals and to have to live as condemned and regularly tortured prisoners is another black mark against humanity and the people who wear rabbit fur. Or buy it to make silly jangly toys hung from car mirrors. Or wear awful white rabbit hair collars and white bags.
Why are their hair pulled out rather than cut ? Because longer fibres get more money. So breeders pull the hair out from its roots. Once the rabbit has had all its hair pulled out , it is put back into its cage till it grows back and then the process is repeated.
Angora wool is one of the most sought after materials for those soft, warm sweaters so many people desire. There are five main types of Angora rabbit: English, French, Satin, German and Giant. Other breeds such as the Jersey Wooly and theAmerican Fuzzy Lopalso produce wool, though less. Each breed produces a different quality and quantity of fibre, and has a different range of colours from white to tan, grey, brown even black. It costs as much as$1016 perounce(35 to 50 cents/gram).
While France, Chile and the United States have hundreds of angora farms (the rabbit was introduced to the US in 1920) , it is , of course, the land of the damned China- that produces 90% of angora fur. China has more than 50 million Angora rabbits and collects 2,5003,000 tonnes per year in this hideous, brutal, shocking way. Each rabbit produces on average one pound of fur per year. These defenceless prisoners are subjected to this terrible pain every four months. No one is allowed to enter these farms and picture taking is forbidden.
In some Chinese rabbit farms, the rabbits are sheared . This is done by throwing the rabbit on the ground and pinning it down by putting one foot on its ear and the other on its stomach while jabbing it with sharp scissors that often enter its body . The sheared angora sells for slightly less but, according to the Chinese , it takes less energy than pulling out the hair manually.
This is how rabbit fur is graded : The premium first quality wool is pulled from the back and upper sides of the rabbit. Second quality is from the neck and lower sides. Third quality is the buttocks and legs. Fourth quality consists of hair pulled from around the anus or feet and is sold to pet shops to line artificial nests
Angora is used alone rarely. It is usually mixed with wool to make it more elastic. Commercial knitting yarns typically use 3050% angora to make the wool softer and warmer. It is usually blended with other fibres such as sheeps wool, mohair, silk, and cashmere and used in apparel such as sweaters , shawls and suitings, knitting yarn, and felt.
After four years of this torture, or sooner if the animal yields less fur , it is killed by hanging it upside down on a conveyor line and slitting her throat. The carcasses are sold to the meat market. The male Angora rabbit has 80% less fur than the female so males are killed immediately after birth since they are less profitable to the breeder.
Rabbits are socially complex, and intelligent animals with individual personalities, just like dogs and cats. They make wonderful pets and are gentle with children. The industry tries to hide this cruelty by saying that rabbit wool must be harvested for the rabbits well being . The angora rabbits have a constantly growing coat and they moult every three/four months ( the hair comes out by itself !). It is only the loose fibres which are plucked or stripped from the rabbit, much as the hair of a pet dog is removed when it comes loose. Its like saying that the hair on your head keeps growing and has to be pulled out for your own good.
Angora wool farms, like every other industry, only continue to exist because of demand. The fashion industry systematically attempts to conceal the abuse and killing of animals for their products as much as possible if consumers knew the truth, after all, it could hurt sales. But, the public need to take some of the blame as well for their refusal to acknowledge theabuse in the productsthey purchase.
Are you one of those people who couldnt be bothered about what you are wearing and how much pain it has caused to a being exactly like you ? Are you a monster that believes in fashion that abuses and senselessly kills animals which are regarded as nothing more than commodities in the fashion market leather, fur, feathers, wool , silk ? It is because we ignore the meanness to animals in the industry , that makers of fashion goods are mean to humans as well, crowding underpaid and overworked women and children into sweat shops that catch fire, like the one in Bangladesh that killed dozens of people.
China is notorious for being the most cruel nation on earth. It abuses every animal as it has virtually no animal welfare laws and encourages the poaching of animals all over the world. Money is the only thing that matters to this country and it doesnt care how it is made from adulterating baby food, making fake sugar and rice to killing every species on the planet. Stop buying anything with angora on the label. Write to manufacturers in India as well many of those in Ludhiana import angora from China and blend it in to their products.
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