Chinese Angora Practices: Is PETA Racist?
We've received a lot of questions lately about Chinese Angora practices. Why don't we just blindly trust and believe the PETA "investigation?" Don't we think what they showed was awful?
OF COURSE IT'S AWFUL! However, the practices shown in the video completely defy logic. Those of us who raise Angoras, and understand their fiber and coat, cannot think of any reason why it would be done that way. It is cost prohibitive, risky to the final product, and risky to the rabbits that would produce an abundance of wool for their entire lives. I don't know of a single business that likes to take unnecessary risks that would have no benefit to their company, do you?
Let's dig a bit deeper. The video depicts people ripping the non-molting wool right out of the rabbits. The rabbits are screaming. It then shows them putting the bald rabbits back in their cages and carrying on as if it were totally normal. However, ripping the wool out in that manner would increase the risk of bleeding. Blood ruins your product. The stress of the procedure and of the potential drop in body temperature would put your rabbit at high-risk of death. A dead rabbit does not produce more wool.
Many people are under the assumption that they just replace these grown, dying, rabbits with babies. Did you know, that it takes about 6 months for a newborn baby to grow up and produce the same amount of wool as an adult does in about 3 months? It's true! In fact, for the first 2 months or so, the babies produce almost all guard hair.. lots of guard hair is not desirable in your product, as it is not soft and fluffy, but rather closer to the hair you grow on your head. However, an adult will produce soft wool for it's entire life! It is easy to see why the practice of killing your adults and replacing them with babies is not a feasible business model. It would be quite cost-prohibitive, and, let's face it, whenever we see abuse in animal industries, it's always to either cut costs, or make the job easier.
So, is it easier to just rip the wool out then? In this case, absolutely not. Let's start by discussing molting vs non-molting Angoras. Originally, all Angoras molted their coat ever 3-4 months. This means, that they completely shed out their entire coats. When this happens, it is easy to collect that already-released wool off of the rabbit by hand. Since it has already been released from the skin, it causes no discomfort to the rabbit when you collect it. The process of collecting this molted wool is called plucking. The term "plucking" is most likely what lead PETA to do that video in the first place. It is very misleading. When you hear the word "pluck" you probably think of how chickens are plucked when they are processed for meat. That leads people to assume that rabbits have their wool forcefully ripped out of their skin. In reality though, you can just as easily "pluck" a molting rabbit by combing it as you can with your hands. The terminology here is not the best and leads to much confusion. If you have to do more than basically pick it up, it's not ready to be plucked! You may see videos of people plucking, and it might look like they're pulling it straight out of the skin, but if you pay close attention, you'll see that they are not using any force and that "plucking" takes little effort. The rabbits should look pretty relaxed as well. To actually take a coat that isn't molting and pluck it, requires a lot more force and an uncooperative rabbit. With all of that in mind, it is easy to see how some rabbits can be humanely "plucked" while others cannot!
Now here's something that will probably blow most people's minds: Chinese Angoras are non-molting! The problem with molting rabbits, is that each rabbit molts on a schedule that is entirely his or her own. Some may barely make it 3 months between molts, while others may go over the 4 month mark. It makes it difficult to tell when wool will need to be harvested, and in a larger set-up, might even cause you to have more rabbits needing attention at certain times than you have time to handle. See, most of your Chinese Angoras are raised by individual families in remote mountain locations. The cooler temperatures are perfect for Angoras, and often these families have few other options to support their families. These families put in full work days with their rabbits, and usually do not have a "staff" other than the family. They need to be able to plan when they will harvest the wool on each rabbit. That's pretty hard to do with a molting rabbit, and that is precisely why the Chinese Angoras are bred as non-molting rabbits. They would much rather be able to shear on a schedule than have to wait for a molt and bred them for this. Shearing a molting rabbit would result in uneven staple lengths, and many short, unusable cuts. Shearing a non-molting rabbit leaves you with a nice, even, staple length with little waste.
In many videos you will find, you will see.. unique.. handling procedures. I have found that they tend to be about the same from rabbitry to rabbitry. It is important to note that the Chinese Angora is it's own breed, with it's own characteristics. There may be a reason they carry these rabbits the way they do, like the reason behind Checkered Giants being carried that way. The way they tend to hold back the skin when shearing in many videos make look odd, but they are doing that to prevent cutting the rabbits.
With all of that being said, here are some videos I've found on actual Chinese Angoras. The second video was done for Wild Fibers Magazine and was released in 2011.
OF COURSE IT'S AWFUL! However, the practices shown in the video completely defy logic. Those of us who raise Angoras, and understand their fiber and coat, cannot think of any reason why it would be done that way. It is cost prohibitive, risky to the final product, and risky to the rabbits that would produce an abundance of wool for their entire lives. I don't know of a single business that likes to take unnecessary risks that would have no benefit to their company, do you?
Let's dig a bit deeper. The video depicts people ripping the non-molting wool right out of the rabbits. The rabbits are screaming. It then shows them putting the bald rabbits back in their cages and carrying on as if it were totally normal. However, ripping the wool out in that manner would increase the risk of bleeding. Blood ruins your product. The stress of the procedure and of the potential drop in body temperature would put your rabbit at high-risk of death. A dead rabbit does not produce more wool.
Many people are under the assumption that they just replace these grown, dying, rabbits with babies. Did you know, that it takes about 6 months for a newborn baby to grow up and produce the same amount of wool as an adult does in about 3 months? It's true! In fact, for the first 2 months or so, the babies produce almost all guard hair.. lots of guard hair is not desirable in your product, as it is not soft and fluffy, but rather closer to the hair you grow on your head. However, an adult will produce soft wool for it's entire life! It is easy to see why the practice of killing your adults and replacing them with babies is not a feasible business model. It would be quite cost-prohibitive, and, let's face it, whenever we see abuse in animal industries, it's always to either cut costs, or make the job easier.
So, is it easier to just rip the wool out then? In this case, absolutely not. Let's start by discussing molting vs non-molting Angoras. Originally, all Angoras molted their coat ever 3-4 months. This means, that they completely shed out their entire coats. When this happens, it is easy to collect that already-released wool off of the rabbit by hand. Since it has already been released from the skin, it causes no discomfort to the rabbit when you collect it. The process of collecting this molted wool is called plucking. The term "plucking" is most likely what lead PETA to do that video in the first place. It is very misleading. When you hear the word "pluck" you probably think of how chickens are plucked when they are processed for meat. That leads people to assume that rabbits have their wool forcefully ripped out of their skin. In reality though, you can just as easily "pluck" a molting rabbit by combing it as you can with your hands. The terminology here is not the best and leads to much confusion. If you have to do more than basically pick it up, it's not ready to be plucked! You may see videos of people plucking, and it might look like they're pulling it straight out of the skin, but if you pay close attention, you'll see that they are not using any force and that "plucking" takes little effort. The rabbits should look pretty relaxed as well. To actually take a coat that isn't molting and pluck it, requires a lot more force and an uncooperative rabbit. With all of that in mind, it is easy to see how some rabbits can be humanely "plucked" while others cannot!
Now here's something that will probably blow most people's minds: Chinese Angoras are non-molting! The problem with molting rabbits, is that each rabbit molts on a schedule that is entirely his or her own. Some may barely make it 3 months between molts, while others may go over the 4 month mark. It makes it difficult to tell when wool will need to be harvested, and in a larger set-up, might even cause you to have more rabbits needing attention at certain times than you have time to handle. See, most of your Chinese Angoras are raised by individual families in remote mountain locations. The cooler temperatures are perfect for Angoras, and often these families have few other options to support their families. These families put in full work days with their rabbits, and usually do not have a "staff" other than the family. They need to be able to plan when they will harvest the wool on each rabbit. That's pretty hard to do with a molting rabbit, and that is precisely why the Chinese Angoras are bred as non-molting rabbits. They would much rather be able to shear on a schedule than have to wait for a molt and bred them for this. Shearing a molting rabbit would result in uneven staple lengths, and many short, unusable cuts. Shearing a non-molting rabbit leaves you with a nice, even, staple length with little waste.
In many videos you will find, you will see.. unique.. handling procedures. I have found that they tend to be about the same from rabbitry to rabbitry. It is important to note that the Chinese Angora is it's own breed, with it's own characteristics. There may be a reason they carry these rabbits the way they do, like the reason behind Checkered Giants being carried that way. The way they tend to hold back the skin when shearing in many videos make look odd, but they are doing that to prevent cutting the rabbits.
With all of that being said, here are some videos I've found on actual Chinese Angoras. The second video was done for Wild Fibers Magazine and was released in 2011.
Now let's wrap this up with a discussion about the coat and how it grows. Angora has a micron count of about 12-15. That's super fine! It is comparable to silk! This is softer and finer than Merino or Alpaca. Do we have to rip the wool off of Merino or Alpaca to keep it soft? NO! So it's easy to see why shearing Angoras has little to no effect on the softness of the fiber and yarn. The second argument you will hear is staple length. They leave roughly a 1/4 inch on the rabbits when they shear, which is about 1 week's growth. That 1 week's growth doesn't disappear. They don't lose it. You can get just as long of a staple length shearing as you can ripping it out.. longer actually, since Angora wool is super fine and would tend to break being manhandled the way PETA does it. You would also damage the follicles, prohibiting proper regrowth.
Is a baby coat more desirable than an adult's coat? NOPE! Many people know that Mohair (from Angora Goats) is significantly softer and finer coming from babies than it is from adults, but Angora wool is a bit different. While the wool IS a little softer on a baby, there is a ton of guard hair. Actually, the first 2 months growth is mostly guard hair. The guard hair is not soft and fluffy. It grows in before the wool, and stays longer than the wool for several months. You have to wait until the wool reaches the same length as the guard hair for a nice balance for spinning and even staple length. In non-molting rabbits, that can easily take 6 months or longer, and result in a fiber that is 6-10 inches long, or longer! Many mills will not accept Angora fiber that long. The photo on the right is a 2 month old EA baby. Only the lighter part is wool, the darker portions are all guard hair.
It's easy to see why ripping the wool off of a rabbit would not be humane, practical, or cost efficient. It is also much quicker to shear a rabbit. For these reasons, we believe that the video shared by PETA was just another one of their staged events.
It is important to note that when PETA released their video most major companies that carried Angora products launched investigations into the family farms where their Angora was sourced, and none of them found anything of concern. These companies also had conducted regular, surprise, inspections of their farms through out their contracts, and found everything to be humane and safe. However, the people would rather believe an organization that is known for, and has been convicted of, hiring actors to torture animals for propaganda. This same organization, and it's counterpart, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) both advocate for the extinction of all domesticated animals. From my sweet, loving, senior dogs, to the feral cats that chose to come into my home in the past, to the fluffy bunnies I love and spoil.. PETA wants them dead. In fact, over 97% of all animals "rescued" by PETA, were immediately euthanized. PETA doesn't believe that domesticated animals deserve the right to live.
Because the Chinese Angora rabbits are primarily kept by poorer families in remote mountain regions, it is unlikely they are able to continue to maintain their rabbits if people are no longer purchasing the wool. Many rabbits have probably starved or have been euthanized, or the families themselves have gone without. It is important for us, as individuals, to do our own research when we see shocking propaganda. If you boycott something that actually wasn't using inhumane practices, you actually cause the suffering and/or deaths of the innocent animals. It is also insensitive and, honestly, downright racist, to say that because a handful of "Chinese" people in a video mistreated animals, that all Chinese people are cruel. That is, in essence, the same thing as saying that because Michael Vick fought dogs, that all black Americans fight dogs. But, I've known several black Americans who love their dogs very much, and would never think of hurting them, and I don't know a single dog fighter. It's the same as saying that since Jeffrey Dahmer was a white American, that all white Americans are serial killers. But, I've known lots of white Americans that were very compassionate, and I don't know a single serial killer. So then, is it reasonable to think that maybe just maybe, there are kind, compassionate, Chinese people out there that don't torture animals? I think it's reasonable to believe that most Chinese people don't torture animals, just like most Americans aren't serial killers and don't fight dogs (regardless of race.)
People seem to equate the lack of animal welfare laws with people abusing animals. If we didn't have animal welfare laws here, would you abuse your animals? If it were legal, would you participate in dog fights? If it were legal, would you skin animals alive? Laws don't make people good, they make the bad actions of a few punishable. It is possible to be a good person in a country without laws.
Is a baby coat more desirable than an adult's coat? NOPE! Many people know that Mohair (from Angora Goats) is significantly softer and finer coming from babies than it is from adults, but Angora wool is a bit different. While the wool IS a little softer on a baby, there is a ton of guard hair. Actually, the first 2 months growth is mostly guard hair. The guard hair is not soft and fluffy. It grows in before the wool, and stays longer than the wool for several months. You have to wait until the wool reaches the same length as the guard hair for a nice balance for spinning and even staple length. In non-molting rabbits, that can easily take 6 months or longer, and result in a fiber that is 6-10 inches long, or longer! Many mills will not accept Angora fiber that long. The photo on the right is a 2 month old EA baby. Only the lighter part is wool, the darker portions are all guard hair.
It's easy to see why ripping the wool off of a rabbit would not be humane, practical, or cost efficient. It is also much quicker to shear a rabbit. For these reasons, we believe that the video shared by PETA was just another one of their staged events.
It is important to note that when PETA released their video most major companies that carried Angora products launched investigations into the family farms where their Angora was sourced, and none of them found anything of concern. These companies also had conducted regular, surprise, inspections of their farms through out their contracts, and found everything to be humane and safe. However, the people would rather believe an organization that is known for, and has been convicted of, hiring actors to torture animals for propaganda. This same organization, and it's counterpart, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) both advocate for the extinction of all domesticated animals. From my sweet, loving, senior dogs, to the feral cats that chose to come into my home in the past, to the fluffy bunnies I love and spoil.. PETA wants them dead. In fact, over 97% of all animals "rescued" by PETA, were immediately euthanized. PETA doesn't believe that domesticated animals deserve the right to live.
Because the Chinese Angora rabbits are primarily kept by poorer families in remote mountain regions, it is unlikely they are able to continue to maintain their rabbits if people are no longer purchasing the wool. Many rabbits have probably starved or have been euthanized, or the families themselves have gone without. It is important for us, as individuals, to do our own research when we see shocking propaganda. If you boycott something that actually wasn't using inhumane practices, you actually cause the suffering and/or deaths of the innocent animals. It is also insensitive and, honestly, downright racist, to say that because a handful of "Chinese" people in a video mistreated animals, that all Chinese people are cruel. That is, in essence, the same thing as saying that because Michael Vick fought dogs, that all black Americans fight dogs. But, I've known several black Americans who love their dogs very much, and would never think of hurting them, and I don't know a single dog fighter. It's the same as saying that since Jeffrey Dahmer was a white American, that all white Americans are serial killers. But, I've known lots of white Americans that were very compassionate, and I don't know a single serial killer. So then, is it reasonable to think that maybe just maybe, there are kind, compassionate, Chinese people out there that don't torture animals? I think it's reasonable to believe that most Chinese people don't torture animals, just like most Americans aren't serial killers and don't fight dogs (regardless of race.)
People seem to equate the lack of animal welfare laws with people abusing animals. If we didn't have animal welfare laws here, would you abuse your animals? If it were legal, would you participate in dog fights? If it were legal, would you skin animals alive? Laws don't make people good, they make the bad actions of a few punishable. It is possible to be a good person in a country without laws.