# How do they get boar bristles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325 "2004-09-27T17:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/21 "2017-10-09T15:42:05Z")
> [@cindymecindy](#): > > Eat meat if you must, but pay extra so that animals don’t suffer. Unless you’re from China, of course. Two years later and I’m still annoyed that Chinese people don’t have to pay extra for non-suffering meat. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/22 "2017-10-09T15:45:47Z")
I think it may be a little late to try MENsplaining anything to Cindy (although to be fair, it was probably always too late). ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/23 "2017-10-10T18:05:58Z")
> [@cindymecindy](#): > > Leather purses, wallets, shoes and belts? Genuine cowhide? Nope. China is the world’s supplier of “Genuine cowhide” except they don’t have a cattle industry. They skin 6 million dogs and cats a year. Cindy, first of all I respect your position. Mankind (let’s drop ‘men’) harvests enough animals, no need for abject cruelty. But are you claiming that small sized, thin, dog or cat hide is indistinguishable from cowhide? And furthermore, China has a huge cattle industry. It has been expanding at over 6% a year for the past 40 years. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/24 "2017-10-10T18:21:18Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Cindy, > I’m a man. Are you aware of any cruelty enhanced meat I can purchase? If you can’t find the meat you’re looking for, perhaps you’d be interested in [this cologne…](http://www.theonion.com/article/new-ted-nugent-cologne-tested-on-every-goddamn-ani-4216) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/25 "2017-10-10T18:49:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ve been looking for foie gras made from geese that have been force fed meat from clubbed seals and baby whales caught in fishing nets. What a coincidence! ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/26 "2017-10-10T22:22:49Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Cashmere doesn’t come from rabbits. That is what _they_ would like you to think. Just like no one talks about how naugahyde is harvested. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/27 "2017-10-10T22:31:07Z")
And you won’t \*believe \*how they harvest formaldehyde! Poor little formaldes! [Dr. Strangelove]bred and…_slaugh_tered[/Dr.S] ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/28 "2017-10-11T00:18:45Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > And you won’t \*believe \*how they harvest formaldehyde! Poor little formaldes! [Dr. Strangelove]bred and…_slaugh_tered[/Dr.S] My uncle had a ranch, he raised formaldes, naugas, and even jeckylands for their skins. ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/29 "2017-10-11T06:14:51Z")
Ducks can be plucked relatively painlessly when just about to moult, you’ll pay more for certified ethically harvest down, if it cheap you can guess how it was harvested. Rabbits are skinned butchered for meat. Dogs are routinely skin alive in Asia, my Asian friends from various countries think its quite amusing, the pelts end up as fur trimming in cheap clothing. I’m no fan of PETA but there is a lot of truth in Cindy’s post. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/30 "2017-10-11T09:01:11Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Cashmere doesn’t come from rabbits. No, it comes from goats. As does mohair, from the angora goat. But amusingly enough, [angora wool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_wool) _does_ come from [del]tribbles[/del]rabbits 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![alphabetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@alphabetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphabetta)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/31 "2018-09-19T03:09:56Z")
> [@cindymecindy](#): > > I need to give an educated answer to dispel the inaccuracies already written here. Boar bristles are obtained two ways: In Asia, you get twice as much money for holding a hog down and ripping out his hair in clumps while he screams. The hair is longer this way, and its barbaric. Otherwise, boars are raised to have their hair sheared off, but it’s not done with love and roses like one poster replied. They are held down and sheared with sharp shears that, when done too fast and too brutally, will literally shave off their ears and faces. I have seen undercover PETA video of big brutes laughing and shearing off the faces of lambs and boars. Their faces come off in one piece, including the eyes, and the poor animal slowly dies of shock and blood loss. Don’t ever kid yourself that anything involving MEN could ever be done with compassion and kid gloves. They don’t care and they take out their aggression on animals. Plus, just like at YOUR job, their managers are screaming at them to GO FASTER!!! So animals are certainly hurt. > > Ducks have all their feathers ripped out in bloody clumps to create down pillows, and the ones not lucky enough to die of shock and blood loss, will live again to have it done another day. Rabbits are stretched and tied by their legs and again, their Cashmere fur is ripped out in clumps. > > Leather purses, wallets, shoes and belts? Genuine cowhide? Nope. China is the world’s supplier of “Genuine cowhide” except they don’t have a cattle industry. They skin 6 million dogs and cats a year. Alive. They also drop dogs into huge massive boiling tanks like lobsters and boil them alive. prior to this they keep them on “Crush Cages”. Look it up… > > China will do anything to anyone at anytime without so much as a guilt pang. They then falsely label their wares with tags that say “Genuine Cowhide” and it is bought by every country, even designer houses like Ralph Lauren and UGG boots and sold as Genuine Cowhide. > > Some of you have already dismissed me, as soon as you heard the word PETA. PETA gets the job done with their undercover videos. If you don’t like it, it’s because you’d rather pretend theres not a problem. > > For your information, I’m not a vegetarian. I eat meat because I believe we are all programmed to eat meat. But with a world full of billions of people, MEN end up abusing animals on factory farms. I instead pay out the arse for humanely certified meat, and I eat way less than I used to before I too was enlightened. And I don’t buy ANY other animal products such as leather, boar bristles, down or Cashmere. > > Feel free to do searches and look up anything I’ve said. it’s all true. Eat meat if you must, but pay extra so that animals don’t suffer. Unless you’re from China, of course. What’s most ignorant is that you keep referring to MEN as the only evil-doers. I’m glad you brought light to the subject matter, but be careful, you’re only further another ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/32 "2018-09-19T03:56:46Z")
Funny. Zombie skin peels right off. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/33 "2018-09-19T04:13:18Z")
One of us! One of us! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/34 "2018-09-19T08:39:35Z")
That’ll do, pig. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/35 "2018-09-19T13:36:33Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Cindy, first of all I respect your position. Mankind (let’s drop ‘men’) harvests enough animals, no need for abject cruelty. > > But are you claiming that small sized, thin, dog or cat hide is indistinguishable from cowhide? > > And furthermore, China has a huge cattle industry. It has been expanding at over 6% a year for the past 40 years. > > Dennis As soon as she said cashmere comes from rabbits and leather comes from dogs, I turned off my ‘accuracy meter.’ Dog fur is useful though. Longer haired breeds make for great ruffs in cold weather. It’s hydrophobic and the various lengths of fur make it great for It’s not wolverine, but it’s significantly cheaper and easier to get and dogs are way more overpopulated in their range than wolverines. (Of course, this belies the fact that typically ‘dog fur’ from China is actually ‘raccoon dog’ which is a canid species, but a different genus than domestic dogs. The name is due to it looking like a raccoon, but being a canid. It’s sometimes called ‘Asiatic raccoon’ or ‘Murmansky.’ It’s an invasive in Europe and hunted regularly with Finland killing over 100 thousand a year. The Swedish eradication program is kind of neat. Raccoon dogs are monogamous, so they’ll capture a male and sterilize it and put a tracker on it. It will roam until it finds a mate and when it stops moving, the Swedes send in a kill team to kill the female. They then release the male to find another mate. They call them ‘Judas dogs.’ I digress though.) And of course, skinning animals alive may happen, but it sure as heck isn’t an industry practice. If you rip a hide, you cut its value in half or worse. There’s no way you want to risk a struggling animal making your knife slip. There’s no advantage between alive and just dead, so it makes very little sense to risk your profit for what? Sadism? Companies are amoral, not sadistic. A CO2 chamber is typically the kill method of choice for very obvious reasons. A stressed animal is an animal prone to losing fur or damaging itself and that costs the company money. CO2 is cheap, fast and it preserves the fur. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/36 "2018-09-19T13:40:42Z")
I would propose that it’s rather useless to compose rational responses to a fly-by poster from 3 years ago who has only that one post, which revived a zombie from 11 years before that. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/37 "2018-09-19T14:40:56Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I would propose that it’s rather useless to compose rational responses to a fly-by poster from 3 years ago who has only that one post, which revived a zombie from 11 years before that. Heh, I never think to check the dates on these things. I probably need to. This board has more zombie threads than any other that I’ve ever been on. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325/38 "2018-09-19T15:14:55Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I would propose that it’s rather useless to compose rational responses to a fly-by poster from 3 years ago who has only that one post, which revived a zombie from 11 years before that. I agree. I doubt that **cindymecindy** is going to respond. I’m going to close this, and anyone who wishes to continue a debate on the subject can open a new thread in Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-boar-bristles/266325.md?page=1)