Do they kill mollusks or are pearls just like wool from sheep?

Answer 1

----- PEARLS -----
A pearl is an ulcer that is formed when an irritant, such as a parasite, enters an oyster, who responds by coating it with nacre (a crystalline substance that gives pearls their luster). Stress is what prompts an oyster to secrete nacre (just like stress creates human ulcers).

Because pearls naturally form in only one in 10,000 oysters and because the creation of a pearl can take up to three years, pearl-makers have devised a process called “culturing,” or cultivating, that allows them to exploit oysters faster and cheaper.

Culturing involves surgically opening each oyster shell and inserting an irritant in the oyster. Freshwater pearls are cultured by inserting another oyster’s mantle tissue. Saltwater pearls have beads and another oyster’s mollusk tissue inserted. Fewer than half of the oysters may survive this process.

Cultivators further stress the oysters by suspending them in water in a cage, washing their shells, moving them around in different waters, and raising and lowering their cages to subject them to changing water temperatures.

After the pearls are extracted from the oysters, one-third of oysters are “recycled” and put through the culturing process again. The others are killed and discarded.

For those concerned about the environment, there is another reason to avoid pearls. Aquaculture has contributed to destruction of natural pearl oyster beds from pollution and overharvesting.

------ WOOL --------
"# In nature sheep produce just enough wool to keep them warm, but scientific breeding has turned them into wool-producing machines, with wool often making up half their body weight. During hot weather they often die from heat exhaustion, and in Australia alone one million sheep die each year from exposure to cold after shearing.

# In order to prevent maggot infestation in the folds of skin around the sheeps' tails, farmers now perform an operation without anaesthetic called "mulesing" in which sections of flesh are sliced away, leaving a painful wound.

# Sheep are treated roughly at shearing time, with serious cuts and dislocated limbs often resulting.

# In Australia alone, about 10 million lambs die each year when they are just a few days old. This is mainly due to unmanageable numbers of sheep and not enough farm workers."

Answer 2

It used to be that they opened it to retrieve the pearl in oysters and put a grain of sand in to irritate it into making another, but these days, with time constraints, it's easier to just break it open, dump the pearl, and throw the shells in a pile, effectively killing whatever life it has.

Answer 3

I am a ex woolhandler & have growen up in and out of the shearing sheds. No we do not kill sheep for wool. Just like facial hair and the hair on our heads we cut it off, pluck shave. Shearing them is just giving the sheep a haircut and making money for ourselves and the farmers. Why kill innocent sheep over wool? People are killing them everyday for food, but for wool? Never in my life have i hears of such rubbish.

Answer 4

Given the time it takes for a quality pearl to be produced, re-using the oyster is better economically. Besides, they taste nowhere near as good as oysters grown for consumption or wild, free-range shellfish.

Answer 5

they may use them a few times to create more than one pearl

Answer 6

Yes they end up on the plate as far as I know, or are chucked back.

Answer 7

i dont think they kill them but i have no idea if i am right or not you should try doing reasearch on it

Answer 8

have a look. This doesnt look gentle to me: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pearl_Oysters.jpg