IKEA, RH, Crate & Barrel Face Scrutiny as NZ Authorities Investigate Sheep Abuse on Lauer Farm and 33 Others Caught up in PETA Exposé
For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2025
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
PETA’s exposé of more than 30 wool operations in New Zealand, including 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. Now PETA is releasing publicly for the first time, extended footage from the investigation, revealing pervasive cruelty and calling on IKEA, RH, Crate & Barrel, and Rugs USA—who all source wool from New Zealand, where80 percent of the country’s wool is classified as “strong wool” and predominantly used for carpets and rugs—to ban wool.
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.”
The newest footage 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 standing on the sheep’s necks.
“Every wool item 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 IKEA, RH, Crate & Barrel, and Rugs USA to remove wool from their products and prove they want to stop cruelty to animals by using vegan materials.”
PETA entities have 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.
