Protesters disrupt Canterbury Market over use of sheep wool

KentOnline / KMTV

Members of PETA - dressed in costumes and covered in fake blood - claimed the traditional farming practice is cruel and hurts animals.   Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00Canterbury is certainly in the Christmas spirit with their high street market, but not everyone

00:04is this holiday season. PETA, or Protection for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, say

00:09that the use of wool for jumpers, scarves and other warm clothing is a cruel practice.

00:13So they held a protest, wearing sheep's costumes, stepping inside a snow globe and

00:17spraying themselves with fake blood to highlight the alleged injustice and raise awareness.

00:22Do we have the wool pulled too far over our eyes? That's the question that PETA wants

00:26us to think about this Christmas, as they urge us to stop the cruel practice of shearing

00:30sheep, which they say can leave them bruised and bloody.

00:33Yeah, so we think it's really important that people understand the ins and outs of the

00:37wool industry and various other animal industries. At the end of the day, we have a choice in

00:41what we wear. They don't have the choice to not give up their own skin and their own wool.

00:46That's their bodies at the end of the day. So we're putting ourselves out here with us,

00:50in the cold, to stand up for them, because I think a lot of people don't understand how

00:55horrific the wool industry is. So it's really important to bring awareness to that.

00:59But I wanted to know if this had real backing, or if it was just to gain attention.

01:03Do you think PETA by this point has made a bit of a reputation for just doing stunts

01:06rather than actually promoting animal awareness?

01:09I mean, there's a lot of stuff that we do behind the scenes. And it's not just stunts,

01:13obviously. The more controversial and biggest stunts are great because they get into mainstream

01:17news and media and reach audiences who perhaps wouldn't have seen and come across these topics

01:22before. But then we do do a lot of grassroots activity like this as such, where we can hand

01:27out leaflets, have conversations with people, get talking to people. So we do do a bit of both,

01:31but I guess it's more the stunts that people would more commonly see.

01:35Christmas shoppers passing by also gave their own views.

01:38It's great. I think everyone should get on board with this. Change the way you feel about things.

01:44I don't really get the issue, because I feel like sheep are producing a natural ingredient that

01:50helps us all, you know.

01:53I think it's a little extreme. I really think everybody needs to have a choice.

01:58And when things are taken to extremes, it becomes quite dangerous.

02:03PETA said their internal investigations found routine instances of sheep being punched,

02:08kicked and abused. But not everyone agrees.

02:11From our experience of shearing sheep, there's absolutely no reason to be doing that.

02:16It could look a little rough-handed when you're trying to grab a ram and turn him onto his bottom

02:25to make him sit up so you can shear him. You know, you have to be quite firm on that.

02:31But there's no punching and kicking.

02:32Canterbury has seen many animal protests over the last few years. And while some might disagree with

02:37PETA, others in Canterbury's High Street might be persuaded to trade their walljumpers for

02:42polyester this Christmas. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Canterbury.

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