Do vegan agree getting hair from horse used for violin bows?

Question

Do vegan agree getting hair from horse used for violin bows?

Answer 1

Yes, the horse IS killed for its tail hair. Or more accurately: horses are slaughtered and then their meat, hooves & tail are sold all at once. So vegans should object to using it. There are many synthetic & ethical alternatives to dead horses & Brazilian rainforest bows, such as nylon & carbon fibre bows, ranging in quality (and price) from $100 to several thousand. I play one myself, and its sound is superior to any traditional bow I've tried.

Back to the question of where horse hair comes from, please read the following which was printed at the Violin Society website:

"How is Manchurian Bow Hair prepared?

99% of the World's Bow Hair is prepared for the market in China. The tails come from horses that lived in Mongolia, Siberia, Inner Mongolia and Hei Long Jiang Province (China). The hair remains on the bone and the tails are sorted into bales according to color, length and slaughter date. The bales are loaded onto pallets which go onto freight trains bound for Hebei province.

We go to a huge warehouse near the rail yards where animal hair from all over the world arrives in huge bales on pallets. This place is enormous, many football fields in width and length. It is dark, dirty and it stinks of mothballs, f***s, urine and blood. Although most of the animal hair has been washed before it arrives here, some of it is not - and the overall stench is overwhelming to the untrained nose. Buyers from workshops all over come here to bid on lots of animal hair. There's boar hair for bristles, cow tails for paint brushes, goat and yak hair, and every kind of animal that produces hair can be found here. We make bids on bales and lots according to the following criteria: slaughter date (We buy only the freshest tails), length (We buy the longest available), color (we buy the lightest color - as white as possible)."

The article continues, but I think that's the gist of it. Vegans should take this very seriously.