Bed Bath & Beyond Urged to Ditch Down

PETA to Submit Shareholder Resolution Calling On Company to Stop Selling Vile Feather-Filled Bedding

For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Today, PETA will submit a shareholder resolution to Bed Bath & Beyond urging the company to make good on its professed commitment to “do better” by banning down and pledging to sell exclusively vegan bedding options.

“All down-filled bedding represents the pain and fear of gentle birds who are often plucked bloody and violently killed,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Bed Bath & Beyond to go above and beyond for birds by dropping down in favor of the impressive down alternatives that it already offers.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—notes that in the down industry, workers commonly clamp live birds upside down between their knees and rip out handfuls of feathers as the animals struggle and shriek in pain. Birds are often plucked so violently that their skin rips open, leaving them with gaping wounds, which workers then sew shut—without painkillers. A PETA exposé of the down industry in China documented that workers on farms connected to “humane”-certified and “responsible” companies left sick and injured geese and ducks to die slowly. Dead birds were found decaying in crates and ponds, and others were tossed outside like trash.

Today’s high-tech synthetic materials—including 3M Thinsulate, DuPont Sorona, PrimaLoft, and Thermore, all of which Bed Bath & Beyond already offers—are luxurious, soft, and warm.

PETA’s many efforts to persuade Bed Bath & Beyond to go feather-free include enlisting actor Mena Suvari to speak on the group’s behalf during the company’s annual meeting last year.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.