A Look Inside the Angora Rabbit Wool Industry

After watching this video, you'll never buy angora again.

The undercover footage, shot by PETA Asia, reveals routine cruelty to angora rabbits, whose long, soft fur is often used in sweaters and accessories. The investigator filmed workers who were violently ripping the fur from the animals' sensitive skin as they screamed at the top of their lungs in pain. After this terrifying and barbaric ordeal, which the rabbits endure every three months, many of them appeared to go into severe shock. After two to five years, those who have survived are hung upside down, their throats are slit, and their carcasses are sold.

Rabbits who have their fur cut or sheared also suffer: During the cutting process, their front and back legs are tightly tethered—a terrifying experience for any prey animal—and the sharp cutting tools inevitably wound them as they struggle desperately to escape.

Ninety percent of angora wool comes from China, where there are no penalties for abuse of animals on farms and no standards to regulate the treatment of the animals. When you buy a sweater, hat, or other product that contains angora, the angora wool most likely originated in China, even if the finished product was assembled elsewhere.

Rabbits are gentle, socially complex, and intelligent animals with individual personalities, just like dogs and cats. In their natural habitat, rabbits live in scrupulously clean burrows and spend their time foraging for fresh, leafy food and interacting with members of their warren.

How You Can Help Rabbits