The most special thing about choosing to Wear it Kind at Christmas is knowing who you are helping, and happy tales of rescued animals are our greatest reminders of why we Wear it Kind. 

Jimmy and Nate (left and right) were only days old when rescued. Initally Jimmy wasn’t moving at all, he was in such poor condition. Found all alone in the cold, they had been unnaturally born into winter, as so many little lambs are bred to be. Their rescuers weren’t sure why they had come to be alone, but Jimmy and Nate were truly lucky souls. Sadly around 1 in every 5 Australian lambs doesn’t make it each winter. One of the highest lamb mortality rates in the western world.

Sometimes sheep aren’t provided with adequate shelter or supervision during lambing, or in heartbreaking cases, ewes are forced to choose the lambs they think are more likely to survive. Thankfully, in Nate and Jimmy’s lucky case, they were found.

Today, Nate and Jimmy live freely. As they are still young, they live under the close eye of a carer who feeds them milk, gives them a warm bed, and lots of love. When they are older, they will live in safety out in the country at a small sanctuary, for the rest of their natural lives. 

Nate, Jimmy, and all sheep like them, are wonderful reasons to choose to Wear it Kind this Christmas.  This year why not check out all the wonderful, sustainable plant-based knitwear materials to keep warm with. There are also fantastic recycled man-made materials to choose from nowadays too!

Little Strongheart was only five days old when he ended up in the holding pen of a slaughterhouse, alongside Big Boy, Cecil, and lots of other frightened dairy calves who were crying out for their mothers. 

In the dairy industry, cows need to be pregnant to produce milk – just like any other mammal, humans included. About 50% of the calves born from these mother cows are born male. These young boys will of course never produce milk themselves, so they are regarded as ‘waste’.

The skins of these gentle, day old calves are soft, as with any newborn and the leather industry values them highly for this reason. Every year in Australia, over 500,000 calves are killed this way. Lucky for Strongheart and his two friends, they did not become a part of this harrowing statistic. Rescuers saved the three boys from the slaughterhouse where they would have been killed the next day, and took them to safety at Liberation Sanctuary.

Cattle are known to have best friends they dislike being apart from, enjoy playing, and even learning. Today, Strongheart and his two closest companions spend their days wandering across hills, resting in the sunshine, and playing together.

If these animals inspire you to Wear it Kind, check out our kind Christmas present ideas!

Harper is a duck who was rescued from a New York foie gras factory-farm. When the founder of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur, first saw Harper and the two other surviving ducks, he said ‘they had lost the will to live, they were in such pain, they had given up.’ Having lived such torturous lives, this is heartbreakingly unsurprising. Harper struggled to breathe, he was lethargic, couldn’t eat on his own, and struggled to move. He had a malformed bill and skull which suggested past head trauma, and only one eye.

If Harper and his two friends, Kohl and Burton had not been rescued from this farm, they would have been killed at as young as 3 months old. At this age, Harper’s liver would have been fat enough to be used to produce foie gras and pâte, and their feathers could end up in down jackets and coats.

Thankfully, Harper and his friends lived out the rest of their natural lives in the freedom of Farm Sanctuary. Harper was inseparable from Kohl, with who he formed a close bond over the years they spent together. Harper enjoyed swims in the pond, socialising with other birds, eating when he wanted to, resting when he wanted to, and soaking up the sunshine.

Harper, and all birds in foie gras, meat and down farming systems are both heartbreaking and heart-melting reasons to Wear it Kind at Christmas.

This is Seb and Ivy (left and right). Saved from a tough start, today, they live a happy life together, enjoy lots of treats, as well as little bunny kisses and hugs from adoring humans. They particularly like eating lettuce and anything that’s green!

Ivy and Seb were rescued by Freedom for Farmed Rabbits. In Australia, some rabbits are still confined to battery cages, in factory-farms and sadly Ivy was found dumped in a bin. Rabbits like these can spend their entire lives in confinement in appalling conditions. But because of people like you, making kind choices every day – this is leading to big change for animals!

When we Wear it Kind, we protect animals just like Seb, Ivy and all our animal friends, allowing them to lead happy lives together, in peace. 

Posted on November 12, 2020 by Emma Hakansson