Stance on Sheepskin & Fur as a Vegetarian

Getwellsoon

Would you find it slightly weird/hypocritical, if someone who had been vegetarian for their whole lives loved sheepskin rugs and had no guilty conscience about where they came from?

Personally, I know I'm a vegan now, but even in the past when I've been both a meat eater and a vegetarian there have been things I have steered clear of (both for health AND compassionate reasons). These things have been veal, fois gras, battery eggs, poor quality processed meats and fast foods, real fur, real sheep skin and fully leather garments wherever they can be avoided. And I'm not even a militant vegan or anything, I'm more of a dietary vegan primarily for health, but I still do have compassion for animals and would be more likely to campaign for the ethical treatment of farm animals rather than try to force-feed information to meat eaters telling them to become vegan.

I just can't get my head around how someone who's been a vegetarian for so long and who is a great believer of organic food and natural products can want a sheepskin rug. Apparently it's to do with "not wasting meat industry by-products", and I suppose I do agree that if an animal is to be killed then we should use as much as we can of it... but on the other hand it is STILL fueling the meat industry. And I'm sure that good rug-quality sheepskins are probably from sheep especially bred for the purpose and not from the average sheep you see with straggly wool in the field down the road (and then their meat sold as a secondary reason?). And in this case, would it then be acceptable for a self-respecting vegetarian to wear a rabbit fur coat/gloves/hat or use a rabbit fur rug/cushion, seeing as it's also a by-product from the game-meat industry?

Of course, it's always been known that vegetarians still eat dairy and use products made from animals, and it's just vegans who avoid it... but at what point do you think a vegetarian should draw the line? I find it baffling how someone can go out of their way to source non-gelatin Haribo online, yet freely admit to wanting to buy a "lamb-skin" for her children to cuddle up to at night.

It's an interesting topic of debate, which I'd like to discuss, but unfortunately it's difficult without the person in question thinking I'm being out of order for questioning her beliefs and feeling as though she is being personally attacked!

henryporter

I think it would be the rare exception to the norm for vegetarians to like/love sheepskin or fur products, particularly as these would be bordering on the extreme as opposed to leather shoes for example, for which I've heard the argument that leather is a by-product of the meat industry, rather than in the case of fur or sheepskin being the product necessitating the slaughter.

Getwellsoon

I'm glad you feel this way too. I have a few vegetarian friends who agree with me, and even many meat eating friends of mine also stay away from things they see as unnecessarily cruel.

Just knowing that someone who I thought had good values could do this kind of thing really confused me - and upset me in some respects too that she was so coldly defensive about it. I admit that I'm no animal rights activist, but this actually led to quite a sleepless night, turning things over and over in my head trying to make sense of things. Just seems so hypocritical. It's one thing to have some shoes made from leather and to be using this by-product in a totally useful way, but it's a totally different thing altogether to have what is essentially a whole dead sheep on your floor and think it's "cute" that your kid puts it on their back and walks around on all fours pretending to be a sheep!

I really don't think there's any excuse nowadays, now that there are so many man-made fibres and alternatives to be found. Some are so close to the real thing you can't even tell they are fake! Things like this are what give vegetarians/vegans a bad name - it is openly ASKING for someone to attack you by ripping your values apart!!

Towelie_6971

i dont know how people can avoid eating the meat but then go and wear the carcass of the animal.... its sickening, why fund the people who kill the animals and put them on the shelves, but then say your against it by not eating meat... it just does not make sense...
people would argue that the animal has been killed already and u may aswell use the remains to make a nice rug and not let them go to waste. but if there was a last piece of chicken in tescos about to be thrown out, would they eat that so as it would not go to waste?? i just dont understand it

Towelie_6971

also, there would be a whole different stance taken on fur and animal skin clothing taken if it were dog skin or cat fur used.actually, there would be outrage! people for some reason see domesticated animals as of more importance than wild animals..... why???
sorry....rambling on...:)

Tar.Aldarion

I think some species of sheep actually need to be shorn these days due to breeding. How would you feel about wool from them?

Personally would not like to participate in sheep wearing.

smellslikeshoes

Wearing wool from sheep wouldn't be a problem for me, as you said sheep do need to be sheared every so often as their coats get to big anyway.
But I'd definitely be against sheepskin rugs where the sheep died for it

I've personally had to do a lot of thinking on a similar subject concerning leather. I won't buy leather if I can and wear non leather shoes etc. but have found it very hard to find good non leather protective wear for riding a motorbike. There is plenty of non leather jackets and trousers but things like gloves almost universally have some amount of leather in them. It's something that I don't like but at the end of the day have decided that my safety is more important to me so have to wear a pair of gloves made of cow even though I don't like it.

Thoushaltnot

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

I won't buy leather if I can and wear non leather shoes etc. but have found it very hard to find good non leather protective wear for riding a motorbike. There is plenty of non leather jackets and trousers but things like gloves almost universally have some amount of leather in them. It's something that I don't like but at the end of the day have decided that my safety is more important to me so have to wear a pair of gloves made of cow even though I don't like it.

Hi - just got in the latest Lidl specials email - loads of biking gear using a material called Cordura®
Lidl specials, Mon 8th March
There is some leather in the regular gloves but none in the rain gloves, as you expected but nothing is pure leather. Hope this helps.

smellslikeshoes

Thoushaltnot wrote: »

Hi - just got in the latest Lidl specials email - loads of biking gear using a material called Cordura®
Lidl specials, Mon 8th March
There is some leather in the regular gloves but none in the rain gloves, as you expected but nothing is pure leather. Hope this helps.

Was aware of this but thanks for link

The rain gloves aren't actually proper gloves unfortunately and work just like a rain mac, they offer no protection as they are supposed to be used over regular biker gloves
My current gloves have something like 40% leather in them which is less than most but it's still leather and would prefer to have ones with 0%.
Cheers for the help though