An Uggly truth

For our American Studies class, we had to write a poem/personal essay on the creation process of an object that we use daily. I choose to write a poem on UGG boots. I have two pairs of them and I wear them daily, mostly in winter and cold weather. They are the most amazing pair of shoes that I own. They are warm and it feels like I am wearing a pair of slippers when they are on my feet. I never really took the time to think about where they came from despite the fact that I wear them almost everyday for three months out of the year and that I am fully aware of what they are made from. They are made from the fur and skin of sheep. If I had tried to think about how UGGs are made before I aqcuired the knowlege that I have now, then I assume I would have imagined that the sheep were gracefully put to sleep with some sort of painless oral medication. Then they would be gently skinned as most animals are before they embark on the meat-packaging process. I would have thought that naturally, the animals would be killed anyway for meat so we were only reducing waste by creating something out of the skin and fur. I have since proved this idea to be very incorrect. While the sheep are actually still alive, they are tied by their feet and hung from a pole as the skin from their behind is sliced off with a knife. This is done without any painkillers whatsoever and the sheep are left to hang their until new skin begins to heal back. This process is to keep flies from planting thier larva which can infect and kill the sheep. The sheep need to remain alive for a few years until their skin is ready to be used. The sheep are sold in auctions and then shoved into car trunks and trucks to be transported to farms where their throats will be cut or where they will be suffocated. Once dead, their skin is removed, cleaned, dyed, etc. as it goes through its preparation process so that the country's affluent can have warm feet. This information had a major impact on the way that I view my UGGs. I think that it is safe to say that I will not be purchasing any new ones in the near future. Considereing that a good portion of female New Trier students own and actively use their UGG boots, I thought that spreading this information would be a good thing. I attached a link for a youtube video that peacefully(without extrmeme graphics, blood, and gore) shows the effect that our needs has on sheep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKAsiEtaf5E&feature=related