A PETA exposé featuring investigative footage from the non-governmental organization Repórter Brasil of eight Brazilian cattle ranches supplying JBS S.A.—the world’s largest beef producer and leather processor—reveals that cows are branded on the face with no pain relief, electroshocked, and beaten, then their throats are slit and they are skinned to produce the leather used for shoes, belts, handbags, and other accessories sold at Kenneth Cole, Nine West, Stride Rite, and other retailers. The Brazilian minister of agriculture, Eumar Roberto Novacki, has been asked to investigate the cattle farms for allegedly violating the Brazilian Constitution, which forbids cruelty to animals.
“Every leather shoe, bag, or belt means that gentle cows were likely beaten, branded, and shocked before being skinned,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on consumers to make kind choices in what they buy and what they wear, and leave the animals’ skins out of it.”
The eyewitness found that calves were dragged away from their mothers and yanked up by their ears and tails and that cows suffered from open, bloody wounds. Cattle were forced to go through tight chutes, where they sometimes trampled one another in panic. Workers also electroshocked them to get them into crowded trucks headed to JBS slaughterhouses, where their throats were slit, and their skin was cut off.
Brazil has one of the largest cattle herds in the world—219 million cows, who now occupy over 600,000 square miles, an area equal to the combined land mass of France, Germany, and Ukraine.
JBS produces 10 million hides annually through its 26 factories scattered across three continents. In addition to clothing and accessories, JBS’ leather has also been linked to leather car interiors for General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, and other major car brands worldwide as well as leather furniture sold at Costco, Macy’s, and others.
