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In April 2017, PETA investigators visited a massive sheep-shearing operation near Jericho, Utah, where thousands of sheep from Red Pine Land & Livestock—which was listed on clothing retailer Patagonia’s website as an approved supplier until it saw PETA’s exposé—are sheared each year. 🐑 😓 The investigators found several violations of the “Patagonia Wool Standard.” Get all the deets and take action to help sheep now!
Pregnant Sheep Whipped, Left With Bloody Wounds
Just as PETA has exposed at dozens of shearing operations around the world, investigators in Utah discovered that heavily pregnant sheep were roughly handled without regard for their well-being. 😰 The animals’ necks were twisted—and they were pulled by their fleece, sent stumbling down steep ramps, and even whipped.
According to one rancher, the shearing crew could “pump out, like, a thousand [shorn sheep] a day.” On average, each worker had to shear a sheep in under three and a half minutes to keep up. 🤯 Shearing that quickly obvi leads to mistakes—as proof, most of the shorn sheep had bloody wounds.
Wool Standard Is Ignored
After PETA’s 2015 video exposé showed Patagonia’s previous “sustainable” wool supplier hacking into fully conscious sheep—and skinning some who were still kicking—Patagonia cut ties with that operation and created a new “Patagonia Wool Standard.” This standard was supposed to outline strict criteria for animal welfare—but no matter how stringent it aims to be, it’s just not possible for suppliers to be compassionate. 😒
PETA’s investigators in Utah saw several violations of Patagonia’s wool standard, including the following:
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Heavily pregnant sheep who were “ready to pop” (according to one rancher) were pulled by their wool into a trailer, quickly sheared, and then sent stumbling down slippery ramps into a pen. Afterward, a worker whipped them to force them through a chute. 😡 These actions violated Patagonia’s wool standard, which says that "[h]eavily pregnant ewes should only be handled when absolutely necessary, and with care to avoid distress or injury."
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Most of the sheep had bloody cuts—up to 5 inches long—near their tails and on their udders, ears, necks, and torsos. 😢 According to Patagonia’s wool standard, “In the event of an injury, the shearer will cease shearing immediately to attend to the injury.” However, no one was seen treating the animals’ wounds.
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Left with little wool to protect them from the elements, pregnant sheep were driven to the desert—where temps dropped to as low as 32 degrees—and left there to give birth. 🥶 Patagonia’s wool standard requires that “[a]ll sheep have access to effective […] shelter” and that “[t]he environment […] not be […] so cold as to cause distress.”
Prodded, Jabbed, and Left to Die
So what happens to the lambs who are born? Red Pine considers them its “main product” and sells them to California-based Superior Farms, the largest lamb slaughterer in the U.S. and a supplier to Walmart and Kroger. 😱 Another animal rights group investigated a Superior Farms slaughterhouse in Dixon, California, and noted that workers there jabbed sheep with electric prods and repeatedly slashed the neck of a struggling sheep. Some sheep appeared to be breathing after their throats had been slit. 😭
Help Stop This Cruelty
No matter where it comes from, wool is a product of a cruel industry. The best way to help sheep like those seen in PETA’s exposés is never to buy wool. 🙅
Like leather, fur, and down, wool is stolen from individuals who are exploited for profit—and, in most cases, whose babies are exploited, too. 🥺 Wool is one of the last things that humans take from sheep’s bodies after stripping them of every dignity and right they should have. 😠
Please sign our petition urging Patagonia to drop all wool ASAP in favor of animal-friendly materials! 🚨