ANIMAL rights group PETA has made a donation of vegan wool to rough sleepers in Dorset following a failed bid to get a Purbeck village's name changed.

As previously reported, Wool Parish Council briefly considered and then rejected PETA's request to rename the 1000-year-old village 'Vegan Wool'.

Parish clerk Jacqui Hughes and chairman Keith Foggon said villagers had “no appetite” for a name change, and Wool’s name derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for a spring - not the wool industry.

The publicity stunt was intended to promote kindness to sheep as a PETA investigation into the British wool industry revealed shearers who "punched sheep in the face, stamped and stood on their heads and necks, and beat and jabbed them in the face with electric clippers".

As promised when it first proposed re-naming Wool, PETA has sent a delivery of vegan wool hats and gloves (made from recycled plastic bottles) to The Bus Shelter Dorset, a charity that provides local rough sleepers with refuge and respite.

The group also delivered fur coats – given to PETA by people who have had a change of heart about wearing the cruelly-produced items – to the charity to help those in dire need stay warm this winter.

"We hope the vegan knits and donated fur coats will help Dorset's homeless community," said PETA Director Elisa Allen.

"With so many warm, cruelty-free fabrics available, only people truly struggling to survive have any excuse for wearing fur and other animal-derived materials."