Image courtesy of ecouterre.com
We’ve all seen them: the brightly colored hair feathers dawning heads of sorority girls, Ke$has and Steven Tylers everywhere. It’s unclear how these ridiculous hair accessories became so popular, but it IS clear that they come at the price of lives. According to ecorazzi.com, “at least one farm in Western Colorado is now killing up to 1,500 roosters per week just for their backside “saddle” feathers.” There are many accessory- and clothing-related items that are less than – um – compassionate, but when new ones emerge it’s a good opportunity for us to look, as a society, at how we use and abuse animal for the sake of something as frivolous as fashion.
The attention that has been paid to the recent use of feather hair extensions has brought focus to another use for rooster feathers, which is equally lame: fishing lures. That’s right, look at the big picture: thousands of roosters are killed weekly for their use in fishing lures and hair accessories! The hot spot for the lures is also in western Colorado, at Whiting Farms, Inc. According to AP, “At Whiting FarmsInc., one of the world’s largest producers of fly tying feathers, the roosters live about a year while their saddle feathers – the ones on the bird’s backside and the most popular for hair extensions-grow as long as possible. Then the animal is euthanized.” How is it that we are able to exploit living creatures so flippantly?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued a blog post entitled, “Feather Hair Extensions: A Trend Worth Killing For?” where they claim that, “Roosters used to make these extensions are bred and genetically altered to produce long, luxurious feathers…” and that, “What costs these animals their lives in turn costs anywhere from $40 to $500 per saddle and can only be worn by the consumer for a scant two or three months.”
PETA’s plan of action against the use of rooster feathers as hair accessories is a “DIY ribbon version.” It’s easy enough to wear things in your hair without endorsing the murder of innocent roosters. Now here’s an idea I can get on board with! A brightly colored ribbon looks just as ridiculous in someone’s hair and costs much less suffering – and money.
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