Monday, 06 January 2025 14:55

New Zealand Merino Company to investigate PETA claims

Written by  Staff Reporters
The New Zealand Merino Company says it does not tolerate breaches of animal welfare guidelines. The New Zealand Merino Company says it does not tolerate breaches of animal welfare guidelines.

The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) says it will investigate claims of animal cruelty made by animal rights group PETA.

A week ago, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) claimed it had gone inside 11 New Zealand farms and shearing sheds producing ZQ-certified wool.

For a wool grower to be ZQ-certified, they must adhere to a number of standards including those around animal welfare, fibre quality, care for the environment, and social responsibility.

PETA says that in footage it obtained and released shearers can be seen kicking and beating sheep, and sheep were left with gaping wounds that were stitched up without painkillers.

The organization states that shearers working at the Lake Hawea farm leased by former American TV show host Matt Lauer stepped on a thrashing sheep’s neck, and sewed up a sheep’s wound without painkillers.

However, despite PETA’s claims, NZM says the farm is not and has never been a supplier to its ZQ Programme.

In a statement to media, the company said it does not tolerate breaches of animal welfare guidelines.

“We are committed to investigating all allegations and urge PETA to provide us more detail about filming locations and the timing of the recordings,” NZM says.

“Should any ZQ accredited farms be identified during the investigation, alongside the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and our third-party audit body Control Union we will take all necessary and appropriate action, up to and including expulsion from the programme,” the company states.

More like this

PETA wants web cams in shearing sheds

Animal rights protest group PETA is calling for Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to introduce legislation which would make it mandatory to have live-streaming web cameras in all New Zealand shearing shed.

Painting the cow red

OPINION: How do you get people to stop drinking milk and switch to foods like fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains?

Home detention for animal neglect

A Taranaki dairy farmer received four-month home detention and was disqualified from overseeing of animals for 18 months over a lack of feed and welfare which led to some animals being euthanised.

Featured

Major shakeup for the NZ science system

The government has announced a major restructuring of the country's seven crown research institutes (CRIs), which will see them merged into three public research organisations (PROs).

Putting theory into practice

Hamish and Rachel Hammond jumped at the chance to put their university learning into practice by taking up a contract milking offer right after graduation.

Workers a big part of the farming business

"We couldn't do this without our team. They are integral to everything." That's the first thing that Te Awamutu dairy farmers Jayson and Stacey Thompson have to say about their team.

Editorial: O Canada

OPINION: The Canadian government's love affair with its lifestyle dairy farmers has got it into trouble once again.

Tough year for UK farmers

Volatile input costs, fluctuating commodity prices, a reduction in direct payments and one of the wettest periods in decades that resulted in a disastrous harvest, have left their mark and many UK farming businesses worse off.

National

New insights into rural fire risk

New student research from the University of Canterbury in partnership with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) could improve knowledge…

Embrace mechanical weeding now

Mechanical weeding is exploding in Europe because increasing resistance means they have "run out of herbicide", says Canterbury agronomist Charles…

China still a good option

The ongoing rise of the Chinese middle class will drag up demand for New Zealand products there in the future.

UAE FTA signed

New Zealand’s free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has now been signed.

Machinery & Products

Batten Buddy - cleverly simple

Stopping livestock from escaping their environment is a “must do” for any farmers or landowners and at times can seem…

U10 Pro Highland a step up

A few weeks after driving the CF MOTO U10 Pro ‘entry level’ model, we’ve had a chance to test the…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Drunk on power!

OPINION: The end-of-year booze-up at the posh Northern Club in Auckland must have been a beauty, as the legal 'elite'…

Time has come?

OPINION: It divides opinion, but the House has passed the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter