Wearing leather is no less cruel than wearing fur. In India, a PETA investigation found that workers break cows’ tails and rub chili peppers and tobacco into their eyes in order to force them to get up and walk after they collapse from exhaustion on the way to the slaughterhouse. In Bangladesh, workers have been seen skinning cows alive for leather as they kick—in plain sight of other cows who know they may be next. In Brazil, calves are dragged away from their mothers, pinned down, and branded on the face with red-hot irons. In the leather industry, live cows are shipped all over the world on grueling journeys, during which they’re exposed to harsh climates and denied sufficient food and water.
In the U.S., cows killed for their skin are crowded, deprived, castrated, branded, and tail-docked on farms before they’re sent off to slaughterhouses. The animals are often improperly stunned and remain conscious and able to feel pain when workers hang them upside down by a leg and slit their throats. If all this sounds familiar, that’s because it is: Leather is a coproduct of the meat industry.
Buying leather sentences animals to a lifetime of suffering and a violent, painful death. Let’s let shoppers know they can choose vegan leather shoes, clothing, belts, bags, and wallets instead!
Just print some copies of this note—in color or black-and-white—from Bella the cow and bring them with you while shopping to put them into leather shoes, the pockets of jeans with leather patches or leather jackets, leather purses, and anything else you see made of animal-derived leather.
When shoppers try on these items, they’ll find this note and be reminded that leather came from someone who wanted to live—and that they can buy vegan versions instead. Be sure to share photos of your activism on Instagram and tag @petaxsos!