ARCADIA GROUP, GAP INC, INDITEX, AND H&M GROUP BAN MOHAIR AFTER PETA EXPOSÉ

First-Ever Eyewitness Investigation of Mohair Industry Shows Workers Slowly Killing, Mutilating Crying Goats

London – A breaking PETA video exposé of the mohair industry in South Africa – the source of more than 50 per cent of the world's mohair – has prompted several top international retailers, including Arcadia Group, Gap Inc, Inditex, and H&M Group, to ban mohair.

PETA Asia's investigation, which is the first of its kind and encompasses 12 farms visited in January and February of this year, revealed that workers dragged goats by the horns and legs and lifted them off the floor by the tail, which could break their spines. Goat kids being shorn for the first time cried out in fear. Afterwards, workers threw them across the floor. PETA US is asking law-enforcement agencies to investigate and file charges, as appropriate, for what the group believes are violations of South Africa's Animals Protection Act, 1962.

"Baby goats were left screaming in pain and fear on the shearing floor, all for mohair jumpers and scarves," says PETA Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. "PETA is urging shoppers to check clothing labels carefully, and if an item says it contains mohair, leave it on the rack."

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to wear" – notes that many goats' sensitive ears were mutilated with pliers, which left the animals screaming in pain. Shearers – who are paid by volume, not by the hour – worked quickly and carelessly, leaving goats cut up and bleeding, and roughly stitched them up without giving them any pain relief.

Farmers admitted that after shearing, many goats die from exposure to the cold wind and rain – 40,000 reportedly died of exposure across South Africa in just one weekend. Unwanted goats also died in agonising ways: on one farm, a worker slowly cut the throats of fully conscious goats with a dull knife and then broke their necks, hacking one animal's head right off. Others were hauled to an abattoir, where they were electrically shocked, hung upside down, and slashed across the throat.

Arcadia Group will no longer purchase mohair for any of its eight brands, which include Topshop and Miss Selfridge, and Gap Inc will no longer obtain mohair products for Gap and its other brands. Inditex's seven apparel brands, which include Zara, and H&M Group's eight brands will be mohair-free by 2020.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.