PETA Slams ZQ ‘Ethical’ Claims After New Sheep Slaughter Investigation—Animals Improperly Stunned, Throats Slit

Wellington — As part of a multipronged endeavor to lift the curtain on New Zealand’s horrific and shameful wool industry, PETA Asia-Pacific has released its new undercover investigation into severe animal suffering at a sheep slaughter house belonging to Silver Fern Farms, which buys sheep from farms that raise them for food or wool, including ZQ-certified farms. Broadcast-quality photos and video footage are available here and here.

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.”

Credit: PETA Asia-Pacific

“Sheep killed after being abused for their wool endured agonizing deaths in yet more proof that New Zealand’s wool industry is rotten to the core,” says PETA Senior Vice President Jason Baker. “PETA urges everyone to ignore bogus humane labels and focus on the suffering of animals. If it’s wool, don’t wear it.”

The investigation comes on the heels of two other PETA Asia-Pacific investigations, available here and here, 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.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone. For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow PETA Asia on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

#