As vegans, we do our best to help other people open their eyes to the cruelty on their plates, but it isn’t just what we eat that is causing unthinkable pain to our animal friends and damage to the environment. We spoke to PETA director, Elisa Allen, to find out why leather causes so much harm and the new innovations ending the industry.
Leather is a lucrative co-product, not a mere by-product, of the meat industry, as the skin can account for up to 50 per cent of the animal’s economical value. Leather production is a major contributor to the depletion of water, fossil fuels and pastureland as well as to climate change — this is a consequence of the methane gas released into the atmosphere by the cows, goats, sheep, and other animals exploited by the global leather industry.