LEATHER SKINNED ALIVE

Hide/Leather like Fur, is the skin of 'Once-Living' animals. Because leather is a slaughter-house byproduct, buying and wearing it directly supports the factory-farming industry and its systematic, mass animal exploitation. As leather making has become a multibillion dollar industry, many of the largest meat producers also run their own leather tanneries now.

Ordinary Leather utilises several animals' skin, Cattle, Calves, Stray Dogs, and Goat Skin, leather is also made from the hides of Horses, Sheep, Lambs, Kids (Baby Goats) and Pigs slaughtered for meat. Myriad other species around the world are hunted and killed specifically for their skins, including Zebras, Buffaloes, Deer, Kangaroos, Elephants, Tigers, Ostriches, Eels, Sharks, Whales, Seals, Frogs, Rats, Crocodiles, Alligators, Mules, Snakes and Lizards.

Up to one-third of 'exotic' leather comes from endangered, illegally poached animals.

Wildlife in rivers and streams are killed by toxic chemicals dumped by the leather-tanning industry.

Crocodiles are lassoed and hauled up. It thrashes for hours till it is stabbed in the neck to sever the spinal nerve. The Skin on the underside of the belly is taken for leather and the live crocodile is lowered back into the water for feed.

Snake skin is more elastic when the snake is alive.

A nail through the head pins it to a tree, a foot holds the writhing tail straight and a knife cuts down each side and the skin is ripped off. The same method is used for lizards.

When shopping don't be afraid to ask sales people for help in finding non-leather products in Footwear, Shoes, Clothing, (Skirts, Blouses, Vests, Blazers, Trousers, Bermudas, Shawls, Jackets, Scarves, Headgears, etc.) equipment's used in Games (Balls, Gloves Head-Gears, Riding Boots, Saddles, etc.) and accessories (including Watchstraps, Upholstery, Belts, Handbags, Briefcases, Purses, Wallets, Jewels, etc.)

Today there are many comfortable, well-made, fashionable non-leather alternatives, such as satin dress shoes, synthetic running shoes (e.g. Co. Nike), and canvas recreation shoes (e.g. Co. Hush Puppies).

Other materials are Jute, Cotton, Linen, Rayon, Ramie, Corduroy, Vinyl, Rubber Plastic, Rexene and Canvas etc.

Coral reefs sustain colonies of millions of tiny animals called polyps which have soft, saclike bodies. The hard skeleton of the coral reefs are mined for coral. As coral reefs grow at an extremely slow rate of 1 to 2.5 cms a year, mining destroys not only the work of centuries in a matter of hours but kills countless lives. Even dead coral reefs are a home to a multitude of marine creatures.

These reefs are underwater cities populated by thousands of different sea creatures that live exclusively on the organisms that hide in the tentacles of the polyps. Apart from that, coral reefs form a natural protection around the land and act as bolsters against storms and sea erosion. These beautiful reefs, these harmless and helpful marine creatures are hacked, torn out, dried on land and then sold to you. Not only does the polyp die, so does all the life dependent on it.

Coral is used in jewellery and also as show-case displays, as a ‘natural’ surrounding in aquariams.

Coral is illegally used as building blocks in place of granite, raw material for the preparation of lime, mortar and cement and for the manufacture of calcium carbide.

THEIR SHELL... THEIR LIFE

A shell is not an inanimate object. It is the home of a soft bodied a molluse. No trader in shells ‘finds’ the shell on the beach and sells it to you. The boats go out in the morning to the shallow waters of the sea and nets are thrown out for snails, whelks, clams, cockles, scallops, and cowries, limpets, chanks, volutes, nautilus, oysters. They are brought to shore and each creature in the shell is killed by repeatedly poking it with a sharp knife till it turns into a bloodied jelly.

Sometimes the animal is not killed, just gouged out and left to die unprotected and defenceless on the sand. The shell is dried and sold to you.

Tortoise-shell is used widely in making jewellery, conches, and also as showcase displays. Turtles are an endangered species and protected under the wildlife laws. Yet, they are illegally captured. Turtles become easy prey as they are crawling back to sea, exhausted, after laying their eggs. Poachers turn them over on their backs on the hot sand in order to incapacitate them. They are then transported live to cities to be clandestinely sold.

ALTERNATIVES FOR CORALS,

Varieties of precious, semi-precious and artificial jewelleries.

There are varieties of impressive harmless natural and man made artefacts available for display.

Be a contentious/self-styled buyer today! Buy products that are both animal-friendly and eco-friendly which automatically becomes human-friendly!