Leather
Fact Sheet
www.WorldAnimalFoundation.com
While fur has become an unfashionable item for many people, leather remains a popular consumer choice. Yet both items come from animals that must be killed in order to extract the product. Many animals killed by the fur industry in the name of fashion are bred and raised in a manner meant specifically to better the animals' coats. The extraction of the animal's fur is the primary purpose of the fur industry. Thus, consumers can more easily circumvent the fur industry if they avoid buying its primary products, fur coats and other clothing items made of fur.
Conversely, many people mistakenly believe that the leather industry itself is not self-perpetuating; that the buying of leather shoes or belts does not increase demand for the slaughter of cows (the primary source of leather). This unfortunate discrepancy on the part of buyers results from the misguided belief that leather, unlike fur, is simply a byproduct of factory farming, an industry that houses animals in abusive, unsanitary conditions in order to harvest them for meat and dairy products. Yet the leather industry generates a significant profit, and buying leather products does give the industry incentive to produce more leather.
Leather is derived primarily from dairy cows who no longer produce significant amounts of milk, and veal cows slated for slaughter. Each of these animals lives out their lives in cruel confinement, with inadequate sunshine and space. They are also subjected to cruel transportation to the slaughterhouse, with several cattle crammed inside of trucks that are too small for their numbers. The livestock handlers often neglect to give their cows adequate water and food during these trips, and many cows die before reaching the slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouses of India, from which much of the leather on the market today is derived, are particularly cruel. Handlers kills cows by slitting their throats, and cows too weak to walk to their deaths are subjected to painful abuse and injury in order to get them to stand.
The origin of most leather products sold in the United States and elsewhere is unknown. Thus, the consumer will never know where the leather he or she purchases originates from, or even whether or not that leather comes from a cow. Pigs, horses, sheep, lambs, goats, and even dogs and cats are also killed for their leather. People have no way to judge the "greater or lesser degree" of cruelty attached to leather items. Instead of attempting to practice this moral relativism when shopping, buying any leather goods should be avoided.
Not only is the breeding and killing of animals for leather cruel in itself, but the processing of leather in tanneries has been linked to leukemia among populations in surrounding areas. Employees at tanneries must handle toxic chemical such as cyanide-based oils, coal-tar derivatives, formaldehyde, and mineral salts, and their group has a high instance of testicular cancer.
Many clothing items and accessories are now made without animal byproducts. You can easily avoid purchasing products made with leather by buying items made with synthetic or plant-based materials instead.
