South African ostriches plucked alive for luxury fashion: report
The probe found more than 150 tonnes of feathers exported in 2024-25 and documented birds injured during plucking and processing.
- World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice documented workers in South Africa cutting and pulling feathers from live ostriches without administering pain relief in a new investigation.
- South Africa accounts for about 75 percent of the global ostrich market, with more than 150 tonnes of feathers exported during the 2024-25 season.
- Some farms use pliers to pull "Blood feathers" from live ostriches every six months, while investigators observed injured birds unable to stand and with wounds from pecking.
- Olivia Charlton, campaign manager at World Animal Protection, stated "Feathers are the new fur- it's the same cruelty just with a different animal." Hakansson of Collective Fashion Justice called practices "utterly inconsistent."
- Fashion brands YSL, Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Chanel, alongside fast-fashion retailer Shein, source feathers from these facilities, raising concerns about industry practices affecting major luxury and retail markets.
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Africa News
Punch NewspapersSouth African ostriches plucked alive for luxury fashion
South African ostrich farms are using mechanical pluckers to remove feathers from living birds destined for major luxury fashion brands in techniques that are cruel and painful, animal welfare group World Animal Protection said on Monday.
Ostrich farms in South Africa use mechanical featherers on live birds by applying painful techniques to obtain feathers intended for major haute couture brands, denounces Monday the World Animal Protection animal defense organization.
Reformatorisch Dagblad
The use of ostrich feathers in the fashion world leads to suffering for ostriches, states animal welfare organization World Animal Protection following its own research in collaboration with Collective Fashion Justice, which aims to tackle abuses in the fashion world. Researchers from the organizations gathered evidence at three commercial ostrich farms in South Africa.
An NGO investigation denounces cruel practices in South African ostrich farms providing feathers to major brands, such as Dior, Chanel... or even Shein.
Le Journal de Montreal
Le Journal de Quebec
South African ostriches plucked alive for luxury fashion: report
The organisation said a new investigation, conducted with Collective Fashion Justice, documented ostriches being cornered by workers who put bags over their heads and then cut and pulled out their feathers without administering pain relief. The footage forms part of a report entitled "Blood Feathers", examining conditions on commercial ostrich farms and at feather-processing facilities in South Africa. South Africa accounts for about 75 percen…
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