PETA Pushes for Bird-Slaughter Probe at RH

For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2022

Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382

PETA—which owns stock in locally based RH—submitted a shareholder resolution this morning to the company’s board of directors, calling for a report on the welfare of the birds on the farms and at the slaughterhouses in its down supply chain, over concerns that they’re often live-plucked or scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

“RH’s lack of transparency about welfare claims regarding the animals used for its down raises the question of whether farms and slaughterhouses are violating animal welfare laws and allowing feathers to be torn out of live birds,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The best way shoppers can help prevent birds from suffering and dying for decorative pillows and other home goods is by choosing down-free, vegan options.”

PETA investigations have revealed workers pulling fistfuls of feathers out of live ducks and geese, even on so-called “responsible farms,” often causing bloody wounds as the animals shriek in terror. Workers then sew their skin back together without any pain relief. At the slaughterhouse, birds are often inadequately stunned before their throats are cut, so they’re still conscious when they’re dumped into defeathering tanks full of scalding-hot water.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.