Anti-wool billboards an ‘act of childish revenge’
Peta targets posters in back yard of fiercest critic
VEGAN activists have been accused of seeking “childish” revenge by installing anti-meat and wool posters on phone boxes in north west Wales.
Four billboards appeared in Holyhead and Llandudno just a month after Llanfairfechan farmer Gareth Wyn Jones criticised PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its anti-shearing messages.
In late February he sparked an online backlash against Boohoo after PETA lobbying prompted the fashion giant to ditch wool.
Boohoo quickly reversed its decision after social media users pointed out shearing was often a welfare measure.
PETA said it chose North Wales for its anti-wool posters because the region is “the heart of sheep country”.
But Gareth believes it is no coincidence they were put up in his back yard and nowhere else in Britain.
“I think PETA was caught out by how much support farmers
have from the general public, and how out of step it was with public sentiment when it comes to shearing,” he said.
“They were absolutely roasted on social media and it looks like they have retaliated with this silly, childish message.
“I wish they’d come out to farms in North Wales and see how sustainable our lamb production really is.”
The posters show a shorn sheep which PETA claims has “collapsed on the ground with a seemingly broken leg”.
Its message reads: “I Don’t Belong on Your Plate or in Your Wardrobe. Choose Vegan.”
PETA said the image was snapped during one of “11 exposés of 99 sheep-shearing facilities on four continents”.
However the picture was supplied by PETA Asia and does not depict a sheep in the UK.
The group insisted its exposés did find evidence of “systemic abuse” in Britain – but only in England and Scotland.
In these instances, PETA said it filmed shearers “punching sheep in the face, stamping and standing on their heads and necks, and beating them with electric clippers”.
PETA’s Elisa Allen said its work had revealed a trail of “bloody wounds and broken limbs”.
“There’s simply no excuse for anyone to choose a woolly jumper,” she added.
In wool’s defence, the FUW said it is a natural material which has provided warm, stylish clothing and household goods for thousands of years.
Ian Lloyd, chair of the FUW’s animal health and welfare committee, added: “Sheep keepers in Britain adhere to rigorous, animal welfare regulations to ensure shearing is conducted to very high standards.”
Without shearing, many sheep would be eaten alive by maggots and die slow, lingering deaths, added Gareth.
“Any farmer will tell you, any shearer who does the sort of things alleged by PETA, would not last very long,” he said.