PETA Wants Witney Wool Merchant’s House to Become Sheep Empathy Museum

Witney – A house which was once home to the 19th century wool merchant Henry Salmon as well as the Early family, founders of Witney’s iconic wool blanket company, is for sale, so PETA sent a letter to Savills Oxford Summertown Estate Agents with the request to convert the space into a museum highlighting empathy for sheep suffering for wool.

“More people are becoming aware that, like human beings, sheep feel joy, pain, and fear and deserve not to be treated as wool-producing machines whose lives end with the abattoir knife,” says PETA Vice President of UK Programmes and Operations Elisa Allen. “PETA’s empathy museum would inspire people to view sheep as individuals and to steer clear of wool in favour of eco- and animal-friendly vegan clothing.”

PETA’s proposed museum would highlight, for example, that sheep are able to recognise other sheep and even humans from photographs and devise ways to overcome obstacles. Yet, as revealed in 15 exposés, PETA entities have documented cruelty to sheep at wool operations worldwide. Even on deceptively named “sustainable” and glaringly irresponsible “responsible” farms, workers can be seen beating, stamping on, cutting open, and slitting the throats of sheep who are scared and struggling as they are shorn – and wool workers in the UK are no exception, as a Scottish shearer has pled guilty to charges of cruelty to animals. The group also proposes a museum gift shop which would showcase natural, eco- and animal-friendly vegan wool products made from organic cotton, linen, Tencel, hemp, and other materials.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]

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