Mexican Entrepreneurs Create Vegan Leather Out Of Prickly Pear Cactus, Helping Save 1 Billion Animals A Year

Mexican Entrepreneurs Create Vegan Leather Out Of Prickly Pear Cactus, Helping Save 1 Billion Animals A Year

Mexican Entrepreneurs Create Vegan Leather Out Of Prickly Pear Cactus, Helping Save 1 Billion Animals A Year According to Four Paws, a global animal welfare organization, the leather industry kills an estimated 1 billion cattle, sheep, and goats per year.  And that statistic doesn’t account for the millions of wild animals used for exotic leather goods, like lizards, stingrays, kangaroos, ostriches, alligators, and crocodiles.  In addition to the toll it takes on animals, the leather industry also has a high cost on the environment.  Leather is largely a byproduct of the cattle industry, which contributes to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.  When demand for beef outpaces demand for leather, unused hides are burnt or sent to landfills.  According to the Leather and Hide Council of America,  up to 5.5 million hides were wasted in 2019 in the US alone — enough leather to make 110 million footballs.  It’s a problem that’s led to a myriad of “vegan” leather alternativ…