Ostrichs

Ostriches are intelligent and sensitive animals capable of taking part in a complex social system. Both males and females are devoted parents who share in the rearing of their curious and playful young, including incubation. In the wild, these animals can live for over 40 years, but in the ostrich trade, they are killed just after their first year. Dark-feathered males stand guard at night while camouflage-plumaged females incubate during the day.

As soon as ostrich eggs hatch, birds that would normally spend several years with their devoted parents are penned into dirt-floored enclosures. While they are still alive, their feathers are ripped from their bodies, leaving them bloody, damaged, and battered. These feathers will be used to make dusters, while their wing feathers will be used to craft costumes for the Moulin Rouge and the Brazilian carnival.

At slaughter locations, many panicked birds slip and fall to the ground as employees violently force them into a box where they are electrically stunned. Their throats are slit. Ostriches waiting their turn can see their peers being slaughtered through the crack of the door.

Up to 85% of the world's ostrich leather, feathers, and meat comes from slaughterhouses in the Western Cape province of South Africa, where young ostriches are killed to produce « luxury » handbags, shoes, and belts for high-end brands.