Would you consider wearing pearls to be animal cruelty?

Question

For those of you who refuse to wear furs and/or leather, snakeskin, gatorskin: Do you also have a problem with people wearing pearls?

If not, why the double standard (oysters are killed for them)?

Answer 1

My wife and I wear furs, in fact I bought her a Silver Fox this Xmas. (Furs sales are up 49% in the last 3 years.)  As far as pearls are concerned, millions of oyster are raised for the purpose of producing cultured pearls.  Thousands of naturally occuring pearls are also harvested.  They have to be killed to give up the pearl, but there is no evidence that they feel pain, and they are so unintelligent that they may not even know they are being killed.  Much of the oyster meat is used in canned soups and it cat food. Remaining oyster meat is fed back to immature oysters, because as is commonly known oyster are very cannibalistic. So the killing of a few million oyster each year is not without it's benefits.  Pearls are beautiful and we can all be thankful that oysters can make them for us.

Answer 2

No. As long as they adhere to the regs. Remember; for the clam it has been livil with a rock inside, which it then begins to add layers, to stop the irritation

over the years men went out to harvest the land and SEA. It only when those limits are ecceded, that we run into trouble

Answer 3

Wish there was a clear answer on this, but it depends on two harvesting methods that are at radically different ends of the conservation spectrum.

The bulk of pearls grown today are done on farms.  Thus the oysters are "harvested" and in the big picture actually provide the ecosystems and communities they come from with meaningful and long term benefits.

PBS's NOVA did a great episode on this (see first link below) called "The Perfect Pearl".

There are still places throughout the Pacific (even a few in the Atlantic) that still gather "wild" oysters in a search for pearls via diving, trawling and other destructive means.  This is devastatingly hard on the ecosystems these oysters come from.  Destroying the food chain, coral reefs, habitat, etc.

Coral, to seaweeds, to fish species, to otters rely on oysters.  Wiping out their ability to interrelate with oysters (even if it just means eating them) hurts them.

Thus, buying pearls (at the end of the day) very well could be cruelty to animals, but on a scale beyond what you're thinking of.

Answer 4

In all honesty I've never thought of where they get pearls, but I consider wearing pearls to be a sign of a very snooty and vain person.  I try not to judge people by appearance but all bets are off when I see someone wearing pearls.....especially now that I know they kill oysters for them.  I think maybe the next time I see someone wearing a pearl necklace I'll just start screaming OYSTER KILLER OYSTER KILLER!  I'm looking forward to it.

Answer 5

I agree with Andy, good answer.

Answer 6

truthfully, I have no problems with pearls. I believe that oysters have a less complex nerve system, and therefore cannot feel pain the same way another animal can.