Stretchers, shears and tiny bunny screams—making that angora sweater is rarely pretty

http://qz.com/152236/rabbit-stretchers-and-tiny-bunny-screams-making-that-angora-sweater-is-rarely-pretty/

By Heather Timmons November 29, 2013

Swedish retailers H&M and AB Lindex and Denmark’s IC Companys have ceased production of angora products in response to a PETA campaign showing videos of rabbits at angora farms in China screaming in pain as their fur is torn off.

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China has dominated the angora production business for decades, after overtaking France in the 1960s, and now provides more than 90% of the fiber used to make everything from sweaters to underwear. Low labor costs and the “sub-standard nature” of China’s angora farms helped this rise, this Australian analysis of the industry (pdf) says.
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Even when live rabbits aren’t being obviously traumatized like the ones shown in the PETA videos, angora production is rarely pretty

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In France the method of harvesting angora was traditionally plucking—albeit after the rabbits have eaten a chemical depilatory that makes it easier to remove the hair—in a process that’s spread over several days to “minimize stress on the rabbit,” according to “Rabbit Production,” a book on the topic reissued in May:

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In the the US, the bunnies aren’t fed a depilatory and “coats are often removed in one session by pulling tufts between the thumb and index finger.” China’s angora production seems to take that several steps further, PETA observed: Workers were “violently ripping the fur from the animals’ sensitive skin as they screamed at the top of their lungs in pain,” after which the rabbits “appeared to go into shock, lying motionless inside their tiny, filthy cages.”
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For angora fans who are turned off by these harvesting methods, there is another way. A cottage industry of “cruelty-free” angora has sprung up, with small-scale angora breeders who recommend either gentle brushing or careful, slow shearing.