What about Sheep?
“Baa!” - Basil, Ridge 2 River’s resident sheep, says Happy Hug A Sheep Day! Did you know that there are over 1.2 billion sheep across the world or that there are more than 200 breeds? Celebrated on the last Saturday in October, today is a day to celebrate all things sheep!
Some other fun facts about sheep? They can recognize up to 50 different faces, have twice the field of vision of humans, and can stand up within minutes of birth. Sheep also have four-part stomachs and a hard dental pad where us humans have our upper incisors. These herbivores are also incredibly adept at plant hunting and can purposely consume plants with medicinal properties when sick.
Basil spends her days frolicking with her best goat buddies, Woody and Sage. Basil is shy and skeptical when she first meets someone, but once you gain her trust, she will spend hours upon hours snuggling up, being brushed and pet (and will gently encourage you to keep going if you dare try to stop). Unfortunately, most sheep today are not lucky enough to spend their days like Basil.
Humans use sheep both for food and fiber. Most of the two million sheep killed for food annually in the U.S. are lambs, who are separated from their mothers at two months old, have their tails painfully shortened, and are killed at six to eight months old, a mere fraction of their natural lifespan of 10-12 years. Sheep may also be used for their milk.
When it comes to wool, it is a common belief to assume that sheep need their wool trimmed and that this is painless and necessary. Domestic breeds like the Merino have indeed been bred for so many centuries that their wool will never stop growing, yet this is not a natural trait. Wild sheep will shed their wool naturally as the weather demands, just like our cats shed their fur and regrow it as needed.
Sheep shearers are usually paid by the number of sheep they shear, not by hour, and, as such, speed takes priority over safety. Shearing can be scary and painful for both humans and sheep. As sheep produce less wool as they age, eventually, they are no longer profitable and are slaughtered.
Lambs that have had their tails tied with a rubber band, a painful method used to shorten their tails, which will eventually fall off
Julie Anne Workman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In addition to being filled with suffering for animals, food and wool production also have a tremendous environmental impact, with massive CO₂ and methane emissions, consuming far more feed calories than they return as edible meat, and others.
Purchasing plant-based foods and materials creates demand for products that do less harm and more good. So this year, let’s celebrate by helping to create a world where all sheep live like Basil by choosing not to support products that come from abusing animals.
~ by Alisa Marvel