VIDEO: COWS BRANDED, ELECTROSHOCKED, AND BEATEN FOR LEATHER CAR INTERIORS

A new PETA video exposé of eight Brazilian cattle ranches supplying JBS SA – the world's largest beef producer and leather processor – reveals that cows are branded in the face with no pain relief, electroshocked, and beaten before finally being slaughtered and processed into the leather interiors offered by Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Volkswagen, Toyota, Volvo, and other major car brands worldwide.

In response, PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to wear or abuse in any other way" – is calling on the car companies to replace all leather interiors with vegan leather.

"For every leather car interior, an average of three gentle cows were likely beaten, branded, and shocked before being skinned", says PETA Managing Director Ingrid Newkirk. "PETA is calling on consumers to make kind choices concerning concerning their automotive and other purchases and to leave animals' skins out of it."

The eyewitness found that calves were dragged by the neck away from their mothers and yanked up by their ears and tails. Some cows suffered from open, bloody wounds. Cattle were forced into tight chutes, where they panicked and got stuck, trying to turn back. Workers used electric shocks and metal-tipped sticks to force them onto crowded trucks headed to JBS abattoirs, where they were hung upside down, their throats were slit, and their skin was cut off.

Brazil has one of the largest cattle herds in the world – 219 million cows, who now occupy an area equal to the combined land mass of France, Germany, and Ukraine. Just a few decades ago, this area was covered with lush, valuable rainforest.

JBS produces 10 million hides annually through its 26 factories scattered across three continents. In addition to car interiors, its leather has also been linked to fashion retailers, such as Adidas, Clarks and Skechers.

Broadcast-quality footage is available for download here, and photographs are available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.