An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide: How Is Real Leather Produced These Days?

These days, a majority of leather is produced by killing animals (in slaughter houses) and very little comes from the carcasses of animals who died natural deaths.

A large number of animals are killed daily for meat thus providing leather, bones, urine, and blood as byproducts. Also, significant numbers are killed specifically for special leather (such as in home and car furnishings, hand purses and leather jackets). In that case, meat, bones, urine and blood are the byproducts (not primary products).

Special leather has certain characteristics like being free from surface scratches and blemishes on the outside skin plus other features such as softness, strength and durability, and texture. Special leather finds its use in home furnishings (sofas, chairs), in automobile seats (generally in expensive/luxury cars), body and footwear such as jackets, expensive shoes, hand purses and also in industrial uses. In addition, in India, some special and fresh leather is used for making silver varak (silver foils). Silver foil in India is most commonly used on sweets and other edible products and also in some Jain temples for decorating the idols and pratimas.

For special leathers, certain types of animals (mostly cows and calves) are specially reared and raised under very controlled conditions (for example, cows are confined to stay in certain positions so that they do not scratch their skins and thus cause scratches and blemishes on the leather skin). Once ready, these animals are slaughtered (primarily) for leather and the meat and other body parts become the secondary byproducts.