Retailers Ban Badger-Hair Brushes After New PETA Exposé Reveals Stabbing, Beating
Retailers are dropping badger-hair brushes following the release of new undercover footage obtained by PETA Asia of badger farms in China. The disturbing footage was taken over several months ending in May and shows a badger being beaten and stabbed while still conscious at a badger farm in China—the world’s leading exporter of badger fur.
Aussie brand Shaver Shop is among the companies that have confirmed they will ban brushes made from badger hair. In a statement sent to PETA, the retailer, which operates 126 stores across Australia and New Zealand, states, “We are pleased to confirm that badger hair products account for less than 1% of our wet shave range, which reflects our strategy and commitment to transition to alternative products within our range. As we complete this transition, the remaining two products in our range that contain badger hair will be delisted no later than February 2027.”
In the new PETA Asia footage, the stressed animals – several of whom have missing hair and bloody, open wounds – pace constantly from side to side inside the cages, chew the wires and frantically dig at the floor as they try fruitlessly to escape. A worker uses a metal clamp to pull a badger from a cage by the skin on his neck and back, then strikes him over and over again with the clamp and a chunk of wood. The worker then stabs him with a knife, and the badger writhes and groans for more than three minutes before losing consciousness.
Shaver Shop joins a list of more than 100 brands that have stopped selling products made from badger hair following PETA Asia’s first investigation into badger fur farms in 2018, including Penhaligon’s, Floris London, Morphe, Procter & Gamble, and L’Oréal Group.
Badgers are extremely social animals who, in nature, spend much of their lives with their family, known as a “clan.” They construct and live inside elaborate underground burrow systems called setts. Much like human homes, setts are made up of separate “rooms,” including a space in which to sleep, an area for giving birth, and designated “bathroom” spots outside. Some setts are centuries old and passed down to offspring, so generations of badgers are raised within the same walls.
But on badger-hair farms, these animals are deprived of the opportunity to dig, forage for food, choose mates, or do anything else that would make their lives worthwhile, causing many to go insane—continually pacing back and forth and spinning in circles inside their cages.
We commend Shaver Shop for taking a stand for badgers who live in miserable conditions on fur farms and face horrifying deaths for makeup brushes. Join PETA in calling on other retailers to do the right thing and say no to this cruelty in their supply chains and switch to high-quality, animal-free alternatives.
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