San Angelo’s Most Unique Sheep Statue Debuts at City Hall
For Immediate Release:
July 2, 2024
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
“I’m someone, not a sweater,” and “I love my family deeply”: Those sheep-friendly messages and others were unveiled today at the City Hall Annex in San Angelo, where PETA representatives hoofed it to cut the ribbon on the group’s controversial sheep statue—called “E(n)d Shearin’” after the singer Ed Sheeran—that features artwork designed by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss showing images of sheep protesting how they’re seen as wool-producing machines, not as individuals with thoughts and feelings. PETA’s legal team secured the placement for “E(n)d Shearin’” in the former “Wool Capital of the World,” even though the Public Art Commission outrageously recommended that city officials reject the statue because of its anti-wool viewpoint—a violation of the group’s First Amendment rights.
More images are available here.
“As someone who was born in San Angelo and has spent most of my life in this beautiful city, I was thrilled to work with PETA to bring the statue to town, where it will educate people about how gentle sheep suffer in the wool industry,” says 71-year-old San Angelo resident Nanci Cox, who joined local PETA members at the unveiling today in support of the statue.
“E(n)d Shearin’ gives a baalanced perspective on wool and a reality check: Gentle, sensitive sheep don’t want to be sliced to ribbons for sweaters and socks,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to shun wool and opt for vegan clothing that leaves animals in peace rather than in pieces.”
San Angelo has already displayed 110 sheep statues, none of which tell sheep’s side of the story. PETA has released 14 exposés of 117 wool operations around the world—where workers have been documented kicking, punching, and slitting the throats of conscious, crying sheep.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
