A case of woolly-minded animal rights activists
As Eric Bahrt and I have again recently crossed swords over my criticism of the animal rights organisation PETA, I thought that a recent amusing report in the UK media might lighten the mood.
A sharp eyed PETA official spotted a village named Wool on a map of the county of Dorset in England. PETA sent a letter to Wool Parish Council suggesting that they change the name of their village to Vegan Wool, thus helping to boost PETA’s anti-sheep shearing campaign promoting “kindness to sheep”. In exchange for their cooperation, PETA promised to supply the villagers with “cruelty free” blankets made from hessian, coconut fibre, bamboo and other scratchy-sounding substances which would apparently avoid real wool being “stolen” from sheep.
Needless to say, the villagers told PETA that they didn’t want their blankets and were not interested in their campaign, and pointed out that the name of the village, which was listed in the Domesday Book in AD 1086, had no connection to wool, but had evolved over the centuries from the Saxon word for water.
This all sounds like a hilarious example of “fake news” but the report appeared in the Times of London so I suppose it must be genuine. As an afterthought, does my barber “steal” my hair when I get my monthly trim? It does grow back again, as does a sheep’s fleece.
Robin Grant
Bangkok
