DODGEVILLE — After a first-of-its-kind PETA exposé revealed that crying alpacas are roughly shorn, cut open, and left bleeding from deep wounds, Lands’ End has banned alpaca fleece. In thanks, PETA is sending the company a box of delicious vegan chocolates.
“No sweater or scarf is worth the blood and terror of a vulnerable animal,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Lands’ End is right to ban alpaca fleece, and PETA is asking kind shoppers to do their part by keeping alpaca out of their closets.”
PETA’s investigation shows that workers slammed alpacas—some of whom were pregnant—onto tables, tied them tightly by the legs to a rack, and pulled hard, nearly wrenching their legs out of their sockets. The terrified animals spit, cried out, and vomited in fear as workers grabbed them by the ears, roughly sheared them, threw them to the concrete floor, and crudely stitched up their bloody cuts with a needle and thread.
Lands’ End previously banned angora and mohair after horrific PETA exposés and appeals. Last year, PETA purchased stock in the company to push it to ban all other materials taken from animals, including alpaca. Lands’ End now joins UNIQLO, ESPRIT, Ann Taylor, LOFT, Columbia, and many other brands in banning alpaca—and PETA is calling on Anthropologie to follow suit.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. Photos from the investigation are available here, and broadcast-quality footage is available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
