Wilson Urged to Ditch Leather After PETA Exposé Reveals Slaughterhouse Violations, Thousands of Cows Killed

For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2025

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to Wilson Sporting Goods’ President and CEO Joe Dudy and Vice President and GM Kevin Murphy, urging them to transition to solely synthetic materials following a damning PETA undercover investigation filmed at a slaughterhouse that supplies leather for Wilson’s official NFL balls. The disturbing footage shows terrified cows watching and trying to escape as others are being shot in the back of the head and dismembered in front of them—all in violation of industry and government guidelines.

The footage—taken at Rodabaugh Bros. Meats in Pandora, Ohio—shows a cow trying to escape the kill pen in vain and another who watched wide-eyed for over nine minutes as cows in front of them were being hung up by their feet and hacked to pieces. One of the slaughterhouse owners was also caught on video bragging to PETA’s investigator, “I was a loan officer at a bank before we bought this. I used to have a good job with benefits, but now I get to kill things.”

“Terrified cows already facing the slaughterhouse knife are spending their final moments being tormented with the horrific sights and sounds of other animals being butchered in front of them—and all of this for a ball,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is calling on Wilson to wash its hands of the abysmally cruel leather industry and switch to the many high-performance and humane synthetic materials available today.”

In its letter, PETA points out that other outdoor professional sports, including the highest levels of rugby and soccer, prefer synthetic balls for their consistent performance, especially in adverse weather conditions and that NFL footballs already have synthetic bladders, laces, stitching, and embossed textures.

Violating slaughterhouse guidelines set forth by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)—and cited on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website—PETA’s video captured a slaughterer stunning cows in the back of the head with a captive bolt gun instead of the forehead, where proper stunning should be administered. The USDA warns that “incorrect positioning, resulting in an ineffective stun, will cause the animal to suffer pain and distress.” In addition, forcing cows to witness the slaughter and dismemberment of others further violates AVMA and NAMI best practices.

PETA is also sending letters to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calling on the league to transition to synthetic footballs, as well as the slaughterhouse, urging it to stop killing and dismembering cows in full view of other terrified cows.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.