So, Granny finally gets that you won't eat her meatloaf or touch leather shoes with a 10-foot pole. But is she still giving you the old (and so not true) "But the sheep don't die" line when you tell her to take that itchy wool snowflake sweater back to Sears? Just give her a quick lesson in "Wool 101" warning, it's pretty gross and Granny will have a hard time forgetting why you feel weirded out by wool.	© SuperStock
Sheep farms aren't like Farmer Hoggett's in the movie Babe. A lot of the wool sold here comes from Australia, where flocks are made up of thousands of sheep, making it impossible for each sheep to get individual care. Just weeks after they are born, lambs' ears are hole-punched and their tails are chopped off without painkillers. Unwanted lambs and sheep are sent to slaughter. Most wool-bearing sheep are bred to grow skin with even more wrinkles than Granny! The wrinkles collect urine and maggots—which can eat sheep alive. So ranchers try to stop that from happening by carving huge strips of flesh off the backs of lambs' legs and around their tails.
According to one eyewitness, "The shearing shed must be one of the worst places in the world for cruelty to animals... I have seen shearers punch sheep with their shears or their fists until the sheep's nose bled. I have seen sheep with half their faces shorn off..." When There's Soft Faux Fleece, Why Wear Wool? E-mail Granny a link to PETAMall.com, where she'll find snuggly, sheep-friendly fabrics like Gore-Tex, Polarguard, Polartec, and Thinsulate. Remind her that cotton flannel, polyester fleece, and other synthetic fibers are easy to clean, cost less, and don't make you break out in rashes or rants about cruelty to animals.