MAJOR Australia and New Zealand E-Commerce Company Bans Badger Hair
One of Australia’s and New Zealand’s biggest online stores has taken a stance on badger hair by removing it from its extensive website and even third-party suppliers.
PETA contacted Fishpond – which has an online pool of more than 25 million products – with footage from a new exposé of China’s badger-brush industry. The video revealed that “protected” badgers are illegally hunted in the wild and that others are bred and confined on farms before being violently killed. Their hair is commonly used as bristles in brushes for painting, make-up, and shaving.
Workers were seen beating crying badgers over the head with anything they could find, including a chair leg, before slitting their throats. Eyewitnesses documented that one animal continued to move for a full minute after his throat had been cut and that another was missing a foot, which the farm owner attributed to a fight with a badger caged nearby. Animals were held inside cramped wire cages exposed to the elements, and the stressful conditions often led to injuries and severe psychological disorders.
Badgers are extremely social animals who, in nature, construct elaborate underground burrow systems, some of which are centuries old and have been inhabited by many generations of the same badger clan.
Fishpond is one of more than 40 companies worldwide that have acted swiftly and compassionately to ensure their stock better reflects customers’ demand for ethical products.
Fishpond has deleted all real badger-hair listings not only on its own site but also throughout the pages of its parent company, WorldFront, and all other marketplaces where it has a presence, including Amazon and eBay.
What You Can Do
Help end the needless suffering of badgers by buying only brushes made with high-performing synthetic bristles, and help PETA continue its work to end the fur trade by joining our Action Team:
Animals Are Suffering in Laboratories – Help Save Them Now
