Target Drops Badger-Hair Brushes After PETA Exposes Stabbing, Beating

For Immediate Release:
June 29, 2026

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

As revealed today in the New York Post, leading retailer Target has dropped badger-hair brushes following deeply disturbing new undercover footage taken over several months ending in May and just obtained by PETA Asia showing a badger being beaten and stabbed while still conscious at a badger farm in China—the world’s leading exporter of badger fur.

In the footage, the stressed animals—several of whom have missing hair and bloody, open wounds—pace constantly from side to side inside tiny, filthy cages, chew the wires and frantically dig at the floor as they try to escape. A worker uses a metal clamp to pull a badger from a cage by the skin of his neck, then strikes him repeatedly with the clamp and a chunk of wood. The worker then stabs him with a knife. The badger writhes and groans in pain for more than three minutes while appearing to go in and out of consciousness.

“Badgers are living in misery and dying in terror and agony on fur farms across China just so their hair can be sold for cheap brushes,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is celebrating Target for joining the growing list of retailers ditching badger hair—and asks everyone never to buy anything made from animals’ fur, feathers, or skin.”

Following PETA Asia’s first investigation into badger fur farms in 2018, more than 100 brands stopped selling products made from badger hair, including Sherwin-Williams, Proctor & Gamble, and L’Oréal Group. MÜHLE and Van Der Hagen continue to sell the brushes and PETA is condemning both companies for not taking action against cruelty to these sensitive animals.

In nature, badgers live with their families in elaborate underground homes that are passed down from one generation to another. They’re fastidiously clean and devoted to protecting each other and their babies.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, a badger is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.