The Down In Your Pillows

From: Kevin J.

Sent: July 24, 2013

To: undisclosed recipients

Subject: Fw: The Down In Your Pillows

Feathers ripped from birds' backs and gaping wounds sewn up with no pain relief: The barbaric cost of your winter coat The down jacket is currently experiencing astonishing popularity. Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren are selling designer versions, they’ve featured in glossy fashion magazines and they’re flying off the shelves in stores like Benetton, Marks & Spencer and Gap — but before you rush out and buy one, ask yourself this: how cruel is the coat? Feathers are ripped from the bodies of live creatures, leaving them bleeding and in pain. Others are a by-product of the foie gras industry — so cruel it’s been banned in Britain. The most prized down, and therefore the one that pays the pluckers the most, is hand-stripped from live birds. That’s because the process of mechanically taking it from carcasses before washing and drying it can affect the quality. Live birds are pinned down & have their feathers painfully ripped out BY THE FISTFUL, sometimes causing death. It takes the feathers of approximately 75 birds to make ONE comforter.