I just heard that a high school in Pennsylvania has banned students from wearing UGG boots to class. Apparently the kids have been hiding all sorts of things in them, from mobile phones to chocolate bars!

But not many people realise that the boots themselves hide an even UGGlier truth. They are made from the skin of Australian sheep -- not just the wool -- the skin.

And it's not just the fact that animals can't actually live without their skin, but sheep raised in Australia for their wool have a tough time from the moment their life begins.

At least 20% of lambs born each year die shortly after birth, from exposure during freezing cold spring nights, infections or fox attacks. That's millions of babies referred to as 'wastage' annually. And those that survive could hardly be called lucky. Lambs are often castrated and have their tails cut off without any pain relief -- wait, that isn't even the worst of it.

Over many generations Aussie farmers have bred Merino sheep to have so much skin (more skin=more wool!) that the wrinkles around the sheep's bum can lead to deadly flystrike. The farmers' solution? Cut off the wrinkles. That's right – no miracle cream here, just cut them off!

And that's exactly what happens. The lambs are restrained on their backs with their little legs tied together while slices of skin are cut away from around their bottoms. This is often done with NO pain relief and always leaves gaping bloody wounds … these are baby animals!

This horror procedure is called mulesing. It's so painfully gruesome that when Pamela Anderson learned of it, she stopped wearing her trademark UGGS straight away and began campaigning against the cruelty and the company.

How is this even legal? I mean if that happened to a kitten or a puppy, the abuser would be charged with animal cruelty. But here in Australia, farm animals just don't get the same legal protection as our pets do, even though they too feel fear and pain. Sheep have even been shown to remember individual faces of their flock mates and people they see regularly – can you imagine the terror they feel as adults when the person that mutilated their backside upends them again at shearing time?

Please don't support the cruelty of the wool industry. Take the pledge to only wear your own skin and snuggle up with cotton or synthetics. After all, you wouldn't want to look UGGly, would you?

Gosh, what a year it's been! Animal rights hit the mainstream in a big way in 2011. Check out this inspiring vid by Unleashed's big sister, Animals Australia for some of the highlights:

We just want to say a big 'thank you' to you for everything you've done to support our campaigns this year. If you attended a rally, wrote emails or letters, took action on our website, or did anythign else to support our work, then thank you for helping us have such a big impact for animals in 2011.

Here's to another great year in 2012!

p.s. Don't forget to share this video with your friends on facebook and twitter to show them what you've been a part of achieving in 2011.

Did you catch 6.30 with George Negus last night? He aired a shocking story about Australia's new breed of factory farming – battery sheep. If you missed it, don't despair – here's the video …

Unbelievable, huh? And to think this is all for a fashion trend – ultra-fine wool. Well done to George and the team for running the story!

If you wanna do something to help these poor sheep, join the Unleashed campaign to end the factory farming of sheep! Click here to ask the Victorian Government to ban these cruel single pens.

Then check out this moving video and share it with all your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Help us get the word out there!

Sheep have been suffering in silence inside these sheds for way too long!

No doubt I’m not alone when I say I like stylish clothes. And one thing I love about faux fashion is that it not only looks hot, it’s a great way to show others that you don’t need to be cruel to be cool (and in fact there’s nothing less attractive than someone draped in the skin of a dead animal!).

One of my fave wardrobe additions of late is my faux leather jacket from Casual Guy (pictured below). When I’m wearing this bad boy and speaking up for animals, I often have people say something like “But you wear leather, don’t you?” and I think BAM! 'time to save lives' and then I respond: “Thanks for asking! Actually no, I don’t wear animal skins. I was horrified when I found out cows that die for leather often have their tails broken and chilli rubbed in their eyes before they are killed. Oh this jacket, it’s fake leather. Have you ever worn fake leather before?”

Here are a few other discoveries I just had to add to my wardrobe:

These 100% non-leather shoes (above) are from Spendless

There's plenty of non-leather belts out there like this Hurley belt made of PVC

If you want something real bad, just keep looking. I wanted one of these jackets for ages, and I finally found a non-wool jacket at Dangerfield.

So how do you strut your hot stuff for the animals? Have you got an awesome tip for compassionate fashion? Leave a comment.