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

14 July 2025

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

London/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 slaughterhouse 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.”

“Sheep are put through immense suffering and agonising deaths for profit – as if we needed more proof that the wool industry is rotten to the core,” says Senior Campaigns Advisor to PETA Australia Mimi Bekhechi. “PETA urges consumers to ignore these sham labels such as ZQ – and if it’s wool, leave it on the shelf.”

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 abuse in any way” – points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

Lucy Watson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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