Feathers -Dont buy items with feathers.
international |
animal rights |
news report 
Friday December 04, 2009 22:50
by Bernie Wright - Alliance for Animal Rights (AFAR}
berniew at esatclear dot ie
AFAR PO box 4734. Dublin1.
0872651720
Plucked alive, cruelty of feathers production.
Dont buy items with feathers/duvets, jackets, hanging decorations, xmas decorations,....etc..
Down is the soft layer of feathers closest to birds’ skin, primarily on the chest area. These feathers are valued because they do not have any hard quills. Products labeled as “down” may contain a combination of these underfeathers and other feathers or fillers. While most down and feathers are removed from birds during slaughter, geese from breeders and ones bred for meat and those on foie gras farms may be live-plucked.
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To get the feathers , up to 5 ounces of feathers and down are pulled from each bird every six weeks from the time they reach 10 weeks old until they are about four years old.
Plucked Alive: The Torture Behind Down can be seen on utube. www.youtube.com
Feathers are an unnecessary item with lots of substitutes. Down jackets, duvets, cushions , and pillows mean one thing for geese—the agony of having their feathers pulled out by the fistful.
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2Plucked Alive: The Torture Behind Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6YW-dKsAg
Caption: Video Id: rj6YW-dKsAg Type: Youtube Video
Plucked Alive: The Torture Behind Down
"Feathers are an unnecessary item with lots of substitutes."
Depends on the application. In some cases (liable to get wet) the synthetics may even be a better choice. However assuming will be able to be kept dry, no, we do NOT have any synthetic substitutes that are comparable. If you don't believe that, just compare the weight and compressibility of the best down sleeping bags with the best synthetics.
STOP! That is not an arguement saying that down is moral to use (no matter how useful). However please do note that saying SOME down might be harvested from live geese is also not an arguement against the use of down (just against that practice*). Lumping uses is also improper argument (for example, synthetics a perfect substitute for "comforters" (duvets) as in this application weight and less compressibility not much of an issue.
BTW: In general you want minimal "feathers" with the down. In almost all the applications where a higher precentage of feathers was desirable the modern synthetics ARE superior.
* Mind, I do understand that you are PROBABLY also against killing the geese to eat therm and in the process harvesting their down. But you have to say that in order to get the extension even though that risks the omnivores among us from saying "bug off".
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