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Investigative footage of Vietnam’s down industry shows a worker stabbing conscious ducks in the neck and workers cutting the legs off live, struggling birds. Their feathers were later sold to brands as “responsibly sourced”. Companies like Gap Inc, Lacoste, and Guess were all identified as recipients of down from the RDS-certified suppliers investigated by PETA Asia, and all obtain feathers from Vietnam. Please urge these companies to ditch down.
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Birds Stabbed in the Neck While Still Conscious
Birds Stabbed in the Neck While Still Conscious Inside a duck slaughterhouse, investigators filmed a worker violently grabbing birds and hanging them upside down in shackles. The worker stepped on ducks, apparently to pin them down so they could be restrained and then shackled.
Shackled birds were dragged through an electrified water bath that paralysed them but didn’t render them unconscious. A worker then stabbed them in the neck with a knife and left them hanging and bleeding out. Many of the birds continued to move for more than a minute afterwards.
Suffering Is the ‘Standard’
The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) claims to “ensure that down and feathers do not come from supply chains where animals have been subjected to any unnecessary harm”. But every farm and slaughter facility visited by PETA Asia investigators sells down to RDS-certified suppliers. And their findings tell a very different story.
With ‘Humane’ Labelling, It’s the Same Old Story
PETA entities have uncovered pervasive, shocking cruelty in the down industry eight times. PETA Asia’s recently released findings from RDS-certified goose farms in Russia – which export down to countries around the world – show a worker stretching geese’s necks across a stump and repeatedly hacking at them with a dull axe while the birds shriek and struggle.
Ducks Are Individuals, Not Down-Producing Machines
Social and outgoing, ducks are happiest when they’re with their “paddling”, a close-knit group of family members and friends. They swim and fly together in formation and even have regional accents. These birds feel fear and pain just as acutely as humans do and share the same desire to be free of suffering. They need their feathers – we don’t.
Take Action for Ducks
Companies like Gap Inc, Lacoste, and Guess were all identified as recipients of down from the RDS-certified suppliers investigated by PETA Asia, and it has been confirmed that all these companies obtain feathers from Vietnam. Please urge these companies to drop down and switch to animal-friendly materials.