PETA AU Global Issue 4 2020

PETA Exposé: Why You’ll Never Buy Alpaca Wool Again (Or anything stolen from an animal)

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V Pretty alpaca: © Frauke Feind/Pixabay • Photo frame: © iStock.com/subjug • Champagne bottle: © iStock.com/mphillips007 • Torn paper: © iStock.com/yasinguneysu • Snow background: © iStock.com/RamCreativ E S T I G A T I O

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T he shed reeked. The gentle alpacas tied down on tables shrieked in terror – an “awful” noise that “sounded like a high-pitched electric pencil sharpener,” according to a reporter with The New York Times who watched footage captured by PETA investigators at Mallkini, the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm, in Peru.

beings as commodities. PETA and its international affiliates were the first to investigate the angora, cashmere, mohair, and wool industries – and, in every single case, discovered violent abuse. Alpacas will continue to be bred, exploited, and slaughtered until consumers refuse to buy their wool. Big Brands Ban Alpaca Fleece PETA works with every fiber of its being to protect the fibers of all other beings. After talks with PETA, major brands – including Valentino, Marks & Spencer, Esprit, and UNIQLO, the third-largest clothing retailer in the world – have banned alpaca wool. Gap Inc. (which owns Banana Republic, Athleta, and others) and the H&M group (including its eight brands) have cut ties with the Michell Group, which owns Mallkini and is the world’s largest exporter of alpaca clothing and yarn. “Personally, I was heartbroken to watch the video and want you to know that this has been a top priority,” a Gap representative said in an e-mail to PETA. Take Action Now Visit PETA.org.au/AlpacaFleece to urge Anthropologie to ban alpaca, and please share PETA’s investigation footage with everyone you know.

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Held Down With Medieval Torture Devices No one had ever investigated the abuse in the alpaca fleece industry before PETA went undercover as part of a groundbreaking investigation that revealed workers hitting, kicking, and mutilating crying alpacas.

PETA’s investigators filmed workers roughly yanking the animals – some of whom were pregnant – off the floor by their tails and slamming them onto tables. Workers twisted the struggling animals’ limbs into a device resembling a medieval torture rack, stretching their bodies and nearly wrenching their legs out of their sockets. According to a veterinary expert who reviewed the footage, such “excessive force applied to the bones, joints, and soft tissues in the area” would likely cause dislocations, fractures, and severe permanent nerve damage. From Shed to Dead for a Woolly Hat Restraint is especially distressing to alpacas, who are prey animals and fear they’re about to be killed. At Mallkini, they spat – a response to feeling threatened – and cried out. They even vomited as workers held them down by the ears. As with sheep who are roughly shorn, some were left bleeding from deep, painful wounds, which workers stitched up without any pain relief. The workers then hurled animals to the concrete floor and even stood on their necks. Nearby, fellow terrified alpacas huddled together in fear. Alpacas Hum to Their Babies Alpacas are docile, inquisitive, and social. Excitement elicits a happy “wark” sound, and pregnant moms hum to their babies – something they also do when they’re happy or curious. They intertwine necks and nuzzle, and like female humans, female alpacas even trot to the “bathroom” together. A Custom-Designed ‘Manmade Beast’ Like dogs inbred to fight or hunt, alpacas were invented by humans. They are a cross between vicuñas and llamas, bred to produce so much wool that they must be shorn. Although they can live for up to 20 years, most are slaughtered by the age of 8. Their flesh ends up on plates in Peru.

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Crying alpacas endure shear terror.

“The alpaca’s scream sounded like a high pitched electric pencil sharpener, more machine than mammal. It was awful ….” – The New York Times

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Calvin Klein Sees the Light–Again! Back in 1994, after a PETA sit-in at Calvin Klein’s New York headquarters, the designer became one of the first to ban all fur. Now, after discussions with PETA, Calvin Klein’s parent company, PVH, which has already eighty-sixed angora,

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has banned the use of exotic skins across all its brands, including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. A company spokesperson told PETA the move is “part of our long-term strategy to drive fashion forward for good.”

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Cruelty is the normwhenever humans exploit other sentient

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