Archive for November, 2011

Delilah Dare (as I’ve previously mentioned) is one of my favorite, favorite performers!! In my mind, she perfectly masters the ideas of fusion in all of her acts. Either when its bellydance and striptease, or striptease and comedy, Delilah is ACE in my mind! Delilah has recently been on abit of a sabbatical in Africa and wrote a really great in-case-you-were-wondering note about Ostrich feathers. With her permission, I’m reposting it here- in case you were wondering!!

The Truth about Ostrich Feathers

Along with many of my performer friends I have a fascination (bordering on obsession) with ostrich feathers. I want to touch them, play with them, adorn myself in them from head to toe, letting their soft tendrils caress me as I fan them in front of me ummmm…… What can I say, its the best part of being a show girl.  However, I had never given much though to how the bird who originally wore the feathers felt about this.  One night, a couple years ago I was walking with a pair of giant ostrich feather fans, and a friend told me that she was entirely against these gorgeous accessories, stating “I am pro animal rights and a vegan, and its the same thing as wearing fur to me.” Although her sentiment didn’t sway my opinion of feathers, as a vegetarian, and an animal lover who attempts to be environmentally conscious, her statement did make me wondered weather or not the sale of ostrich feathers is ethical.  Certainly feathers can be sold ethically, I mean birds malt right? So theoretically feathers can be harvested without killing a bird. I even saw on ebay a woman selling the malted feathers from her pet parrot once. However, I’d be lying if I said I knew where the feathers I buy come from, and most probably some birds died in the process of making me look fabulous on stage. Does this make mean my love for feathers trumps my love for ethical treatment of animals? This dilemma has made me question the ethics of the sale of feathers, particularly ostrich feathers, for a while now.

Recently, while in South Africa, I had a chance to visit an ostrich farm and was finally able to answer my questions.  I decided to share this information with my fellow performers as I know several of you have been curious about this as well. So her it is. The truth about ostrich feathers.

The sale of ostrich feathers is not inherently un-ethical!  Ostriches do not malt, so feathers do have to be harvested from the bird.  However, one can cut the feathers about 3 inches before the nerve and the ostrich does not feel a thing, and the feathers will re-grow in about 12 months.  This means that if one were, hypothetically, keeping ostriches for the purpose of harvesting and selling feathers, to kill the bird would have no monetary value, in fact quite the opposite, as one could get many crops of feathers from the same bird as the feathers re-grow.  However, in reality people do not really keep ostriches for the feathers.

Of the three products that come from ostriches (not including eggs) feather production is the least lucrative.  Even with the thriving resurgence of neo-cabaret entertainment, most people do not buy ostrich feathers.  The most lucrative part of the bird is its meat, and the second its skin (ostrich leather is second most durable skin product after Kangaroo).  What does this mean?  Basically most people who own ostriches do kill them, as they want to sell their meat and their skin, and while they are at it, they might as well sell the feathers too. Therefore, the bird who grew those feathers you wear was probably killed. However, it is not the sale of the feathers that supports this industry, nor the killing of the birds. In fact, if the meat and leather industries folded and the feather industry persisted, there would be no need to kill the birds at all.  Therefore, the ostrich feather industry is not inherently un-ethical.  Still don’t get it… use your imagination for a second…imagine someone…say a group of show girls…decides they want to buy a couple ostriches and keep them solely for the purpose of producing feathers, with no desire at all to produce meat or leather, it would be entirely un-advantageous for them to kill one of their birds, as they would lose several crops of feathers from this.  Rather it would make sense to keep all the birds alive, happy and in good health so that they continue to grow new crops of healthy, glossy, fast growing feathers.

So there you have it, being a show girl and supporting animal rights are not mutually exclusive!