Mary Wore a Little Lamb: An Investigation into Karakul Lamb Fur |
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There is a farm outside Bukhara, in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, where pens and fields are home to more than 10,000 karakul sheep, a hearty breed raised primarily for its silky and durable fur. Bukhara, an old proverb claims, is a city from which "the light ascends into heaven," but The HSUS has documented a practice there that is among the darkest of the fur industry's secrets.
Garments made from the pelts of newborn karakul lambs—often referred to as "Persian lamb"—are a staple of the fur fashion world. So too are garments made of fetal karakul lambs (known as "broadtail"), which the fur industry claims are crafted from animals born prematurely due to accident or exposure.
In March 2000, HSUS investigators touring the farm near Bukhara found that pregnant ewes are in fact routinely slaughtered for these fetal pelts. Graphic video shot at the farm shows a pregnant ewe held down, her throat slit and her stomach slashed wide so that a worker could remove the developing fetus—the "raw material" for coats, vests, and other broadtail fashions. What's more, contrary to the industry's claims that karakul lamb fur is merely a byproduct of meat production, HSUS investigators videotaped newborn lambs displayed as "samples" of pelt colors before being sent to their death. The pelts were saved, the tiny carcasses discarded as trash.
The HSUS investigation, details of which aired on Dateline NBC, revealed that the killing of karakul lambs and karakul fetuses is dictated by the whims of the fur trade, which places a premium on texture, pattern, and luster. The fur taken from a fetus 15 days before the natural birth, for example, is smoother than that of a fetus taken five days before birth. Similarly, the curled texture of a newborn lamb is tighter and glossier five hours after birth than it is three days later, making it more valuable.
The fur industry dismisses the charges that adult karakul sheep are killed for the fetuses. Why, it asks, would a farmer kill an adult breeding animal to produce a single pelt? The answer: Because there's plenty of money to be made. A karakul lamb coat sells for as much as $12,000, while the price of a broadtail outfit costs upwards of $25,000.
Although karakul and broadtail lost some of their fashion-industry appeal during the early 1990s, there appears to be a resurgence of interest. Such world-renowned designers as Ralph Lauren and Karl Lagerfeld use karakul in their creations. Fendi and Nieman Marcus are among the U.S. retailers that sell karakul.
So the karakul sheep-fur breeding continues in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and other Central Asian nations. And it continues at the farm in Bukhara, where hundreds of karakul sheep—some not yet born—are unceremoniously slaughtered each week.
Updated June 20, 2006
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Karakul Lambs
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