Angora
Millions of Angora rabbits endure a lifetime of suffering so that their soft hair can be used for fashion products
Rabbits are gentle, intelligent, and highly social species, yet on angora farms, they spend their lives crammed into tiny wire mesh cages, unable to express many of their natural behaviours. The harvesting of this hair however often involves cruel practices such as live plucking which rabbits are forced to endure multiple times per year.
Angora wool, an incredibly soft fibre taken from the thick coats of Angora rabbits, is largely used in high-end fashion yet can also be found in cheap or fast fashion items too. Numerous reports of severe cruelty and unethical practices in angora production have led to major brands and retailers banning the use of angora wool due to animal welfare concerns.
Did You Know?
The average wool yield for an Angora rabbit is about 200 grams per year.¹ This is just enough wool to make a child-size jumper.² Around 90% of angora wool comes from China where millions of Angora rabbits endure a lifetime of suffering, hidden from view.³ Around 20 million Angora rabbits are farmed in China each year to produce wool and there is currently no animal welfare legislation in China to protect them.⁴
FOUR PAWS opposes the keeping of Angora rabbits and the use of Angora wool. The keeping of Angora rabbits is inherently cruel and therefore any Angora welfare standard is unacceptable.
Angora rabbits are highly social animals who seek companionship and need lots of space to move around.
Animal welfare issues
Painful Harvesting Practices
- Every few months, rabbits are pinned down and their hair is removed using sharp cutting tools or, worse, it is ripped out by hand, both without any anaesthetic or pain relief often causing wounds and injuries.5,6
- As rabbits are prey animals, they are very prone to stress especially when being handled. Some rabbits even die from heart failure or a broken spine due to the stress and struggling caused by the process.7,8
Inappropriate Living Conditions
- Rabbits are often kept in tiny wire mesh cages, unable to carry out their basic natural behaviours.9
- This extreme confinement can lead to stress and boredom, causing rabbits to become highly aggressive, leading to immense suffering as well as injuries and diseases which are usually left untreated.
Torture Breeding
- Angora rabbits are intentionally bred to have excessive fluffy wool which compromises the rabbit’s welfare in various ways: Without proper and regular care their wool can easily become matted leading to impaired sight, eye diseases, infections, high susceptibility to heat stress and other severe health and welfare issues.7
- They are often unable to groom themselves adequately due to the excessive wool.10 At the same time grooming themselves often results in ingesting large amounts of hair, causing stomach issues and even death.11
What we are doing
FOUR PAWS is fighting to stop this cruelty. We are exposing the truth behind the angora industry and, through our Wear it Kind programme, we are building a global movement of people who demand better for animals.
We do more than point out the problem – we are part of the solution by engaging with designers, brands and retailers and supporting them to make vital changes to their supply chains, calling on companies to ban the use of angora wool.
What you can do
Together we can make long-lasting change for rabbits suffering for angora wool and prevent the suffering of millions of animals used in fashion.
- Use our Wear it Kind Shopping Guide and Kind Knitting Guide to find out more about alternative materials to angora wool and other ways you can show compassion in fashion.
- Take the Wear it Kind pledge and show the world you want fashion free from animal suffering.
- Your voice really can make a difference. Politely speak, or write, to the management of any store selling angora wool to phase out the material.
Source
2. Estimating How Much Yarn To Buy. Magic Needles. 2024 Jun 7 [accessed 2024 Jul 8]. https://magicneedles.in/blogs/guide-more/estimating-how-much-yarn-to-buy
3. Angora – Discover Natural Fibres Initiative. [accessed 2022 Oct 24]. https://dnfi.org/angora-fibres
4. Carnovale F et al. Chinese Public Attitudes towards, and Knowledge of, Animal Welfare. Animals. 2021;11(3):855. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030855
5. Roelofs S. Domestic rabbit welfare: Welfare issues surrounding a multi-purpose animal [Master Thesis]. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Utrecht University; 2016.
6. Allain D, Rochambeau H de, Thébault RG, Vrillon JL. The inheritance of wool quantity and live weight in the French Angora rabbit. Animal Science. 1999;68(3):441–447. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800050451
7. Angora Rabbit | PetMD. [accessed 2024 Jul 8]. https://www.petmd.com/rabbit/breeds/angora-rabbit
8. J. Orcutt C, L. Malakoff R. Cardiovascular Disease. In: Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents. Elsevier; 2020. p 250–257. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780323484350000198. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-48435-0.00019-8
9. Schlink AC, Liu SM. A potential new industry for Australia. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. 2003.
10. Angora - Long Hair. [accessed 2024 Jul 8]. https://www.ufaw.org.uk/rabbits/angora-long-hair
11. Mondal D., Risam K.S., Sharma S.R., Kumar D. Prevalence of trichobezoars in Angora rabbits in sub-temperate Himalayan conditions. World Rabbit Science. 2010;14(1):33–38. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2006.543 12. Blas C de, Wiseman J. Nutrition of the rabbit. 2nd ed. CABI; 2010.