WAFarmers has today launched a crowdfunding campaign to send Jona Weinhofen, the face of PETA’s latest anti-shearing campaign, to shearing school for a hands-on education about Australia’s wool industry.
Weinhofen is the most recent celebrity to pose for PETA in a misleading advert which depicts shearing as a barbaric practice which is damaging to animals.
The lamb pictured in the campaign is now widely acknowledged as being made of foam.
WAFarmers President Dale Park said the fake lamb is only the first of many misrepresentations in the unethical campaign.
“No one that I know would shear a lamb that size – it looks a day old – and certainly they wouldn’t tolerate such a low standard of shearing,” Mr Park said.
“The PETA campaign preys on people that have no knowledge of shearing practices.
“Shearers are trained in best practice technique and any shearer that did that to a sheep would be out of a job.”
It costs $4,500 to send a person with no prior experience to shearing school.
If WAFarmers raises this money, it will invite Weinhofen to attend one of these schools so he is better informed about the practices he is commenting on.
If WAFarmers exceeds its goal of $4,500 it would like to extend the invitation to the staff at PETA, first and foremost the CEO and the marketing department, to clarify any misconceptions they may have.
To support the campaign visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/send-jona-weinhofen-to-shearing-school
Ends.
All media requests can be directed to WAFarmers Media and Communications Officer Sophie Kilby on (08) 9486 2100 or [email protected].
