PETA representatives gathered at the City Hall Annex in San Angelo, Texas, to cut the ribbon on a striking sheep statue—called “E(n)d Shearin’” after the singer Ed Sheeran—that features artwork designed by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. The statue shows images of sheep protesting while holding signs proclaiming, “I’m Not Your Socks!” “I’m Someone, Not a Sweater,” and “Where Is Your Empathy?”

PETA’s legal team secured placement for “E(n)d Shearin’” even though the Public Art Commission recommended that city officials reject the statue apparently because of its anti-wool viewpoint—which lawyers argued was a violation of the group’s First Amendment rights.

Why Is PETA’s Sheep Statue in San Angelo?

San Angelo, once known as the “Wool Capital of the World,” has already displayed 110 sheep statues, but not a single one of them acknowledges how sheep in the wool industry are exploited, abused, and killed when they’re no longer considered useful.

The wool industry is violent and abusive. PETA has released 14 exposés of 117 wool operations around the world—where workers have been documented kicking, punching, and slitting the throats of conscious, crying sheep.

Shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast work without any regard for the welfare of the sheep. This hasty and careless shearing leads to frequent injuries, and workers use a needle and thread to sew the worst wounds closed—without any pain relief. Strips of skin—and even teats, tails, and ears—are often cut or ripped off during shearing.

Like us, sheep experience fear when they’re separated from their social groups or approached by strangers. When they’re depressed or lonely, they hang their heads just as humans do. Like puppies, lambs wag their tails when they’re happy, and adult sheep have impressive memories. They can recognize the faces of at least 50 other sheep and humans, even from photographs!

Although sheep are intelligent, social beings, the wool industry continues to abuse them in ways that could warrant cruelty-to-animals charges if dogs or cats were the victims.

Our statue is finally bringing a sheep’s perspective to San Angelo, where it will encourage people to have empathy for these gentle, sensitive animals with complex emotional lives.

PETA urges everyone to shun wool and opt for vegan clothing, which no animals were cut to ribbons for.

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