Are these best shearers not still commoditizing the products of the body of another thinking being?
How do we know your claims of non-violent sheering are true?
Where is the sheep in this shed, now?
Do they still have their horns?
Do they still have their tail?
How much of the industry do these sought-after shearers even represent?
"Firstly, and most fundamentally, sheep and other animals should not be farmed and used for profit in the first place. Vegans stand against all forms of animal imprisonment, and against all industries in which animals are used for human gain.
Secondly, those that are farmed are subject to active cruelty and pain.
Many of us are told that shearing is as painless for sheep as going for a haircut is to us, but this is not true.
Shearing is often done in a fast-paced environment where workers are paid by the sheep, not the hour, which leads to inevitable cuts, bruises and injury. As reported by PETA, one eyewitness to the process said: “[T]he shearing shed must be one of the worst places in the world for cruelty to animals … I have seen shearers punch sheep with their shears or their fists until the sheep’s nose bled. I have seen sheep with half their faces shorn off …”
Sheep have been selectively bred to grow as much wool as possible, which makes their lives painful and uncomfortable. As mentioned previously, wool is often justified on the grounds that the animals need to be shorn, but this is only because we humans have bred them to be this way.
Because they are selectively bred to maximise wool growth, the sheep must be sheared at least once a year - meaning they will often overheat during the summer.
Heat exhaustion is common in farmed sheep, particularly those that live abroad. In Australia, the world’s largest exporter of wool, sheep often do not survive the summer. Blow Flies can lay their eggs within a sheep’s wrinkles in hot climates, due to a build-up of moisture. Horrifically, the animals can be eaten alive by maggots when they hatch. This is called Flystrike and can kill the sheep within days if left untreated.
Mulesing is a method that intends to stop flies from laying eggs in a sheep’s skin, but this practice is horrific and painful in itself. It involves cutting off parts of a lamb’s skin, often done without anaesthetic, subjecting them to excruciating pain both during the procedure and the weeks it takes them to recover.
Tail docking - the intentional removal of part of the tail by cutting, searing or similar - is another painful method used by farmers in the wool industry. It is claimed that this is necessary to prevent flies from laying eggs in faecal material that builds up on their tails. As well as being painful, there is a risk of rectal prolapse if this procedure is not carried out properly.
Mulesing and tail docking are often done to lambs when they are between two and 10 weeks old. Lambs subjected to this cruelty will often lose weight and socialise less in the weeks after, and they will also actively avoid people - particularly the person who did it to them. This clearly shows that lambs have the capacity to feel fear and experience - and remember - pain.
Once a sheep has stopped growing enough wool to be profitable for the farmer, they are often killed for cheap meat. Many sheep, particularly those from Australia, are exported to other countries on an overcrowded ship to their death, which is an unimaginably horrific experience for the animal. Can wool ever be ethical?
While wool farms differ in their levels of cruelty, and there will be a minority who do ensure that their sheep are not subject to active pain, it still cannot be argued that wool can ever be ethical.
This is because, as mentioned previously, all animals used for profit are not where they are by choice, meaning that - however ‘ethical’ the farm is - it is still a centre of imprisonment and exploitation."
https://www.surgeactivism.org/articles/why-wool-not-vegan>>>
Estimates have it that in the industrial world, somewhere between 1-5% of people are vegan. That remaining the same until your preferred revolution happens, and your idealized form of governance becomes the reality everywhere: how is your socioeconomic system going to get the remaining 95% of billions of people to stop consuming, committing cruelty to, and exploiting animals? Sorry, but we have to do whatever we can in the here and now, and there is urgency in time. It’s not only a matter of morality. We know that our wanton animal consumption is one of the largest drivers of climate change. We know that our society’s addiction to flesh and secretions have resulted in agricultural systems that not only resulted in one recent pandemic, but we are hanging on the edge of an even worse flu pandemic that can end up happening at any time. 75% of new infectious diseases have a zoonotic origin.
In a world where ideal society has never happened and is always a dream away, we do not have the luxury of an either/or approach of fixing one problem before we think about the next.
The toxic food environment is a reality, and that needs to be fixed in policy. But individual choice matters too, because what we choose to buy is what drives what is sold. Taste is dynamic and subjective. New diets are only temporarily less satisfying until the person develops the knowledge, cooking skills, and palate to start getting more satisfaction out of their foods. Even better, the difference in the way people feel when they adopt a whole-food plant-based diet for even as little as a couple of weeks, is a start contrast to the standard western diet. Experiencing the difference first-hand generates more motivation to continue.
Also, our bodies do not inherently like the smell, taste, and mouthfeel of animal flesh. That is a learned habit. When a person goes long enough without consuming flesh, the very smell of it changes - even the freshest meats smell rotten, and the people who eat these foods smell like rotting corpses.