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CLOTHING - Millions of cows, pigs, sheep, goats, geese, ducks, foxes, raccoons, minks, chinchillas, lynxes, bobcats, baby seals, beavers, muskrats, otters, dogs, cats, ducks and geese are slaughtered for their skin every year.
Leather: Is not simply a slaughterhouse byproduct. The meat industry relies on skin sales to stay in business. Skins account for approximately 50 percent of the total byproduct value of cattle.
When dairy cows’ production declines, for example, their skin is made into leather. The hides of their offspring, "veal" calves, are made into high-priced calfskin. Thus, the economic success of the slaughterhouse and the factory farm is directly linked to the sale of leather goods.
When you buy leather products, you may be purchasing leather from Asian dog and cat tanneries. Since product labeling rarely indicates where the skins originate, there’s no way to know for sure.
Wool:
Sheep are routinely punched, kicked, and cut during the shearing process.
Each year, approximately 140 million sheep undergo a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which shears are used to slice large chunks of skin off the backsides of live animals without anesthetics.
Sheep raised for wool in Australia and New Zealand are shipped to the Middle East for slaughter. These animals are placed on overcrowded, disease-ridden ships with little access to food or water for weeks or even months. During their grueling journeys, they suffer through weather extremes, and temperatures on the ships can exceed 100°F. Many fall ill when they become stuck in feces and are unable to move, and many others are smothered or trampled to death by other sheep. Alpacas are also sheared for their wool.
Felt: An extension of the wool and fur industries. Is produced using a technique that compresses and hardens the wool or fur fibers into pliable material.
 Fur: Animals on fur farms are killed by anal electrocution which literally fries their insides.
Animals caught in steel jaw leghold traps are in so much pain that some actually bite off their limbs in order to escape. Unable to eat, keep warm, or defend themselves against predators, many die horrible deaths before the trapper arrives to kill them. Others suffer in the traps for days until they are caught and killed. To avoid damaging the pelt, trappers often beat or stomp the animals to death. Most states have no regulations regarding methods of slaughtering these animals.
In Asia, dogs and cats are killed for their skin, just as bobcats and foxes are killed in the United States.
Whether enduring the excruciating pain of a leghold trap or a lifetime of agony in a tiny cage, the animals suffer immensely.
Angora, Cashmere, & Mohair: Angora is obtained by shearing Angora rabbits. Cashmere is obtained by shearing the underbelly of the Asiatic goat. Mohair is obtained by shearing the white Angora goat. These terrified animals are brutally shorn, leaving them exposed to cold temperatures and the chance of illness and death.
Down & Feathers: Plucked from ducks and geese either after slaughter or while they are being raised for meat or foie gras.
They are lifted by their necks, their legs tied, and their feathers are ripped out. This process begins when the birds are 8 weeks old and is repeated at eight week intervals until the birds are slaughtered.
Plucking birds causes them considerable pain and distress.
Silk: Silk is the fiber that silkworms weave to make cocoons. To obtain silk, manufacturers boil worms alive in their cocoons.
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