Did Alicia Silverstone Research Wool Gathering, Before She Bared Her Bum In Protest For PETA?

In recent years, Alicia Silverstone has become known for embracing a more natural lifestyle from going vegan to contributing to causes that seek to protect the environment and the creatures that live within it. It seemed only a matter of time before Silverstone teamed up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.), but Alicia’s provocative ad campaign for the organization in which she bares her assets may all be for nothing, as it calls for humanity to stop shearing sheep for their wool. On the surface, that seems a noble cause, but a little research suggests that not shearing the animals may be the crueler course of action.

Clueless Star Alicia Silverstone Would Rather Go Naked

Alicia Silverstone Poses Totally Nude for PETA. I guess she hasn't encountered an overgrown sheep… #shearingsaves https://t.co/jpzFnlS5aX

— Bio Babe (@JPBioBabes) November 22, 2016

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are targeting the wool industry and, as People reveals, they have recruited actress Alicia Silverstone as their latest spokeswoman, getting her to shed her clothes in an effort to get the rest of us to shed our wool. The new poster from P.E.T.A. features Silverstone completely nude and facing away from the camera, baring her backside in all of its glory. Alicia coyly looks back at the camera, as she holds a sheep Halloween mask in one hand.

“I would rather go naked than wear wool,” reads the lettering surrounding Silverstone.

In smaller print, farther down on the poster, a more direct call to action is asserted.

“Wear your own skin. Let animals keep theirs.”

A visit to the P.E.T.A. website charges the wool industry with animal cruelty, suggesting that all sheep farms employ practices of physically abusing the sheep in an effort to get the wool from the animals.

As Ms. Silverstone supports the statements made by P.E.T.A., one has to wonder how many sheep shearing farms she has visited, or does the Clueless star merely take the P.E.T.A. organization at their word?

“Wool in general has not been thought about…the biggest thing people say to me is, Oh, but they just shear the sheep, they don’t kill the sheep. It’s not like that, it’s on the slaughterhouse floor where there’s a conveyor belt and it’s just so fast, the shearing process, that they get cut, they get harmed and they’re seriously wounded and there’s no care for them when they’re wounded,” said Alicia Silverstone in a promotional video made for the campaign. “It’s just move on to the next. These are creatures that, to the people who are doing this, are just objects.”

Alicia Silverstone Should Meet Chris

The Washington Post stumbled upon the story of Chris, an unfortunate sheep who had escaped the confines of his farm and has spent the last six to eight years living on his own. As a result, Chris’ wool has grown to five times the normal size of an average, regularly sheared sheep. When a sheep is not sheared for an extended period of time, a practice P.E.T.A. and Alicia Silverstone would have for all sheep, a wide array of hazards may await the animal.

Even if Chris managed to avoid contracting one or a plethora of parasites waiting for a victim in the wild, there’s still the danger of falling. Once down on the ground, Chris wouldn’t be able to stand on his own, leaving him vulnerable to other wild animals, such as foxes and dingoes. If the creatures of the wild don’t get him, he would ultimately die of starvation.

“It’d be great to get someone here immediately so we can assess any serious medical conditions he might have as a result of this,” said Tammy Ven Dange of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Australia. “There are so many things that could go wrong with this, we won’t know though until we can properly shear him.”

By the time the shearing was finished, it was estimated that the wool gathered from Chris was enough to make 30 men’s suits.

While the Alicia Silverstone ad campaign suggests that sheep farmers are all uncaring brutes, Ven Dange’s involvement suggests otherwise. Following the shearing, she tweeted a message that Chris would be available for interviews, only after a veterinarian gave the okay.

Maybe sheep need humanity as much as we need them.

[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]