The Slaughter Behind New Zealand’s ‘Humane’ Wool
Investigators have documented what the wool industry tries to keep out of sight: Once sheep are no longer considered useful, they are sent to slaughter. In their final moments, terrified sheep are funneled down a narrow chute, and workers jolt them with an electric stunner, but may fail to render them unconscious. When workers slice open their throats, sheep may still be conscious. After years of enduring violent shearing in the wool sheds, their final minutes are filled with terror and, for some, agonising pain.
The investigation comes on the heels of two other PETA Asia-Pacific investigations revealing rampant abuse at every stage of farm operations within New Zealand’s wool industry. PETA Asia-Pacific has submitted the evidence, along with documentation of the 34 farms—including 11 ZQ-certified facilities—in a formal complaint to the Ministry for Primary Industries, urging it to investigate and file appropriate charges for apparent violations of laws prohibiting cruelty to animals.
The damning undercover footage shows workers using head-only electrical stunning ineffectively on sheep before severing the animals’ necks with a blade, which left the sheep still conscious, as shown by their twitching ears and tense heads. A veterinary professor of animal welfare who reviewed the footage noted that the movement of sheep’s ears and tense heads suggested that the “stunning was sometimes inadequate” and that it holds a risk of consciousness and suffering. The footage casts a shadow on ZQ’s claim that it offers “the world’s leading ethical wool.”
Every wool garment funds cruelty from the shearing shed all the way to the killing floor. Even sheep from farms marketed as “ethical” can meet this same violent end. Choose materials that spare sheep’s lives. Never buy wool.
Urge Brands to Ditch Wool
PETA’s exposés from Australia to England, Argentina to the U.S., and now New Zealand have proved that violence against sheep in the wool industry is pervasive, and we must hold companies accountable for supporting such cruelty. Brands like Allbirds, Helly Hansen, icebreaker, Smartwool, and LVMH’s Loro Piana use the ZQ certification to market wool – urge them to stop selling wool now!
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