Rugs USA Faces Scrutiny as NZ Authorities Investigate Sheep Abuse on Wool Farms Caught up in PETA Exposé
For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2025
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
Following an expose from PETA revealing pervasive cruelty at more than 30 wool operations in New Zealand, PETA is calling on Cranbury-based rugs retailer Rugs USA—which sources wool from New Zealand —to ban wool from all of its products. Eighty percent of New Zealand’s wool is classified as “strong wool” and is predominantly used for carpets and rugs. The damning footage—some of which was taken at a property owned by former TV host Matt Lauer—has resulted in unprecedented government action, with authorities there launching an investigation into animal abuse allegations and threatening potential prosecutions.
The exposé reveals shearers beating, kicking, and throwing petrified sheep down chutes and slamming them into floors; workers cutting holes in lambs’ ears and burning and cutting their tails off with a hot iron; workers crudely stitching up gaping wounds without painkillers; and bodies of dead sheep scattered around the properties. Workers are seen tackling and hitting sheep with objects and stomping on the sheep’s necks.
“Every wool rug sold by Rugs USA represents the suffering of sheep who, out of sight of the public, are beaten, mutilated, cut bloody, and treated like bags of trash,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Rugs USA to remove wool from its products and show it won’t support cruelty to animals by using only vegan materials.”
New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries has combed through more than 230 video files and other evidence supplied by PETA Asia-Pacific, and the New Zealand Merino Company has already suspended two farms from its ZQ program. ZQ-certified wool—which is sold by Allbirds, Fjällräven, Smartwool, Loro Piana, Helly Hansen, among others—claims to be “the world’s leading ethical wool brand.”
PETA has now released 15 exposés of over 150 wool industry operations in seven countries on four continents—revealing that even on “sustainable” and “responsible” farms, extreme cruelty and violence are rampant.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
