PHOTOS: VEGAN MALE MODELS PROTEST WOOLMARK DESIGN COMPETITION AT MEN'S FASHION WEEK

PHOTOS: VEGAN MALE MODELS PROTEST WOOLMARK DESIGN COMPETITION AT MEN'S FASHION WEEK

PETA Exposes How Wool Industry Workers Beat, Stamp On and Mutilate Sheep

London – Bearing a "bloody lamb" prop and signs proclaiming, "Don't Pull the Wool Over Your Eyes", three vegan male models in faux-wool jumpers and blindfolds stood tall at Somerset House – the site of the finals of Woolmark's menswear design competition, as part of "London Collections: Men" – to protest the wool industry's cruelty to sheep.

Photos of the event are available here, and here.

"There's nothing 'manly' about the cowardly shearers who were filmed punching sensitive sheep, slamming them into the floor, stamping on their heads and even killing them for their wool", says PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi. "PETA is calling on all kind people to leave wool on the rack and instead opt for technologically advanced and cruelty-free options such as rayon, woven metal and soya silk."

PETA US, whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to wear", released an international exposé of the wool industry in Australia – the source of 90 per cent of the world's merino wool – and the US, which revealed that workers violently punched scared sheep in the face, stamped and stood on the animals' heads and necks and beat and jabbed them in the face with electric clippers and a hammer. Some sheep even died from the abuse, including one whose neck was twisted. The worker who killed the sheep admitted, "I get angry".

Life for British sheep is no easier. Wool producers subject lambs to painful mutilations – including castration without any painkillers. It's considered normal in the wool industry for at least 4 per cent of young lambs to die every spring, primarily because lameness caused by untreated scald and foot rot (painful bacterial infections) is found in about 18 per cent of British flocks. The only way to ensure that you're not supporting cruelty is to leave wool – and all other clothing made from animals – out of your wardrobe.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.