The New Zealand Merino Company Will Investigate PETA Claims

The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) has been made aware of the distressing footage circulated by PETA showing several instances of animal abuse.

PETA says it has investigated eleven farms and shearing sheds around New Zealand. It is unclear how many properties feature in the PETA footage.

We can confirm that the one property named by PETA to the New York Post is not and has never been a supplier to the ZQ Programme.

The images shared by PETA are confronting and upsetting. NZM 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.

Should any ZQ certified 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.

About ZQ

The ZQ Standard is a highly respected wool certification, developed and owned by NZM. The programme was introduced to improve animal welfare as the world’s first ethical wool standard.

The ZQ programme requires growers to ensure high standards of animal welfare, including freedom from pain, distress, injury or disease.

ZQ grower properties are independently audited by Control Union and the ZQ Standard itself is aligned with leading international programmes, including Textile Exchange’s Responsible Wool Standard (RWS).

NZM operates a confidential complaints mechanism which can be accessed here: https://www.nzmerino.co.nz/feedback-complaints

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