Written by PETA
Update: Fine Featherheads has deleted the statement from its website indicating that the roosters are "treated ethically."
Fine Featherheads, which tacks the feathers of gassed roosters into its customers' hair faster than you can say "misinformed fashion victim," had the audacity to post on its website that the roosters are "treated ethically" at its exclusive supplier, Whiting Farms. PETA has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fine Featherheads founder, Dakota Hills, demanding that she remove the blatant falsehood from the site.
"We are informed that you visited the conditions in which the roosters are confined and killed for their feathers," wrote PETA Foundation General Counsel Jeffrey S. Kerr. These conditions include confining roosters to solitary cages stacked one on top of the other in noisy, windowless sheds until the birds are finally gassed and skinned. Mr. Whiting admits that he and his workers abuse the birds, even hurling them across the barn.
There is nothing "ethical" about the treatment of the roosters at Whiting Farms, only a financial motivation for Hills to mislead customers. If she does not remove the false statements from her website, PETA will pursue action with appropriate state and federal regulators.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Rooster feathers look best on their rightful owners, but some salons are now weaving them into customers' hair as an "accessory." To obtain the feathers (which are traditionally used as fishing lures), roosters are typically confined for 30 weeks—the majority of their short lives—in tiny, stacked cages inside deafeningly loud barns before they are killed and skinned.
The owner of Whiting Farms in Delta, Colorado—one of the largest feather farms in the U.S.—described the cruel conditions in which he keeps roosters:
[We're] sentencing [each rooster] to a solitary cage for the last 6 months, with nothing to look at or listen to other than lots of other confined roosters ... [y]our sentiments can quickly shift from wanting to evaluate their necks to wringing [t]hem. Some of my most sheepish moments in life have been after hurling an especially bad rooster across the barn in utter frustration ....
Just like minks who are killed for coats and snakes who are skinned for shoes, roosters suffer when they are exploited for human vanity and profit. Please help them by telling your friends why wearing rooster feathers is cruel, not cool, and always choosing animal-free clothing and accessories.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!