Elisa Allen: PETA spokesperson on allegations of sheep abuse on kiwi farms

Animal rights organisation PETA has made allegations of sheep abuse on kiwi farms in an “exposé” into New Zealand’s shearing practices. 

PETA accuse farmers of whipping, tackling, cutting and abusing animals and named a range of brands they claim use the wool. 

The Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed it had been contacted about the allegations. 

PETA UK spokesperson Elisa Allen tells Tim Beveridge industry labels such as humane wool are a sham. 

Federated Farmers Meat & Wool chairperson Toby Williams has called the report “a disgraceful hit job” that aims to make people think “their video is what all farming practices in New Zealand look like, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm all Rights organization PETA has made allegations of sheep
abuse on Kiwi farms in an expose into New Zealand's
sharing practices. They accuse farmers of whipping, tackling, cutting, and
abusing animals and named a range of brands that they
claim use the wool. The Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed
it's been contacted about the allegations and PETTER spokesperson Alissa

(00:39):
Allen is with me, good morning, Good morning. You guys
don't like farmers very much, do you.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Know of This actually isn't about specific farmers. I mean,
this is about the extreme abuse of sheep that was
documented and honestly, this latest investigation should shock everyone and
should stop them in their tracks. The footage shows sheep
who are used for wool are violently in the face,

(01:09):
they are kicked, stomped on, cut to shreds with shears,
literally thrown down shoots, and then they're killed when they
aren't useful anymore. And all of this is happening at
farms that are deceptively labeled as humane, showing that these
industry labels are a total sham. The footage was taken

(01:30):
at eleven farms that produce z Q certified supposedly humane wool,
and as you said, big international brands like All Birds,
Smart Wool, Helly Hansen all sorts zed Q certified wool
from New Zealand and they have a lot to answer for.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
As a second, so you're basically saying that all the
sharing practices in New Zealand does somehow suspect, are you.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, certainly all of the farms that we documented, and
this was across eleven farms. This isn't the first time
that PETA has investigated the wool industry. We have over
recent years visited over one hundred and fifty sharing sheds
and farms across four continents, and we keep finding the

(02:21):
same horrors a year in and year out. I mean,
this latest video and the footage really speaks for itself.
If you have any.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Doubts, it's about it's about sixty seconds of footage. The
Federated Farmers Toby Williams said, this is just a hit job.
You cherry picking the worst you can find and tarring
a whole industry.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Oh, I wish that this was just one bad apple. Unfortunately,
not footage and different story. I mean, no piece of
person watches footage.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, unfortunately, unfortunately listen, unfortunately your zoom has Are you
still there?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (03:05):
No, Unfortunately we've lost that connection there. So that was
Elissa Allen from Petter. Just a quick comment before we
move on to the next one. I've had a look
at the images in the video and there's a couple
of bits where you think that's a bit over the
top from the sharer in particular. But I'm sorry, but
I'm not buying this stuff from Peter. I just think

(03:25):
that they find a couple of examples and they try
to basically write off an entire industry. And it's also
worth pointing out that the comments that we had from
Toby Williams Federated Farmers, they said it was a disgraceful
hit job by Peter And basically when I said you
don't like farmers very much, she said, I'm not at all,
and then she revealed that they don't like farmers very much.

(03:46):
They don't like farming very much. But also there's another
aspect of sharing. Not that I'm here as a lobbyist
for the woolen industry here. But I just suspect that
Peter basically engage in these hit jobs all the time,
find some dramatic footage and pretend that everyone's doing it.
You could do that with anything, couldn't you. So there

(04:07):
we go.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
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