Wilkinson Sword Bans Badger-Hair Brushes

Wilkinson Sword Bans Badger-Hair Brushes

London – After PETA US shared with Edgewell Personal Care – which owns Wilkinson Sword and Schick, among other brands – a badger-hair industry exposé showing badgers spinning in circles in dirty cages before workers slit their throats, the company just banned the use of badger hair for brushes.

“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 worth living,” says PETA Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “By banning the sale of badger-hair brushes, Edgewell is helping PETA push the personal care industry in a kinder direction.”

PETA Asia’s investigation into the Chinese badger-hair industry revealed that badgers exhibit behaviour patterns indicative of severe psychological distress, such as pacing back and forth. Many badgers suffered from untreated injuries, and one was even missing their leg. Slaughterhouse workers beat screaming badgers over the head with anything that they could find, including a chair leg, before slitting their throats. Other badgers are captured illegally using snares, even though they’re a protected species.

Procter & Gamble, the parent company of The Art of Shaving, was the first company to ban badger-hair items after the release of PETA Asia’s video, and nearly 100 others have followed suit, including L’Oréal Group, Morphe, NARS Cosmetics, Penhaligon’s, and Floris London.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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