FIRST it was fake meat. Now it's fake wool.
The latest assault on the livestock industry comes in the form of a US$1 million (about A$1.49m) competition launched by radical animal rights group PETA to find fibre that's "visually, texturally, and functionally akin or superior to sheep's wool".
The clincher for the prizemoney is the fake wool must be adopted and sold by a major clothing brand stocked in the US.
Not that there is anything new in fake wool, or at least fibres that compete directly with wool.
Plenty of other fibres have had a go.
Petroleum-derived nylon and polyester were developed in the 1930s and 40s spawning a range of other artificial fibres including rayon, polyester, acrylic and heat-resistant aramid.
Even the proponents of bamboo fibre have declared it as a wool alternative.
PETA Australia's Emily Rice said the competition was designed to save sheep and incentivise clothing designers.
"It gives emerging designers the chance to make powerful, positive change for sheep and the environment," Ms Rice said.
"One way to reduce the nation's emissions is to move towards warm, cruelty-free, and sustainable plant-based wool."
PETA's mantra is as simple as it is simplistic: Raising and shearing Australia's 74 million sheep is not only cruel but also terrible for the planet.
No mention of the amount of people that sheep feed and clothe, or the 80 per cent voluntary adoption of pain relief by sheep producers, and that sheep produce well under 3pc of Australia's total green house gas emissions.
There is certainly no mention that the creation of any new fibre would almost certainly have its own climate impacts.
Not that the sheep industry is on its own when it comes to unjustified attacks.
PETA is also out to save insects.
It says silk worm farming is also unacceptable because cocoons are boiled to release the silk fibre.
