Ducks Stabbed in the Neck and Their Legs Cut Off for ‘Responsible’ Down

Downed Ducks on Down Farms

On the farms visited by PETA Asia investigators, ducks were crammed into filthy sheds and forced to live on wire flooring or confined to dirt lots strewn with faeces. They were denied any opportunity to engage in their most natural and important types of behaviour, such as bathing, swimming, flying, and foraging. Some were breathing with their mouths open, which is often a sign of stress, overheating, or respiratory infection. Others suffered from gaping, bloody wounds. Many had difficulty walking or were unable to stand up at all, possibly as a result of severe infections or fractured legs. A worker grabbed one immobile duck by the neck and tossed her aside. Dying birds were left to suffer, and the bodies of those who had died were often left in full view of the others.

Birds Stabbed in the Neck While Still Conscious

Inside a duck slaughterhouse, investigators filmed a worker violently grabbing birds and hanging them upside down in shackles. The worker stepped on ducks, apparently to pin them down so they could be restrained and then shackled.

Shackled birds were dragged through an electrified water bath that paralysed them but didn’t render them unconscious. A worker then stabbed them in the neck with a knife and left them hanging and bleeding out. Many birds continued to move for more than a minute afterwards.

Suffering Is the ‘Standard’

The Responsible Down Standard claims to “ensure that down and feathers do not come from supply chains where animals have been subjected to any unnecessary harm”. But every farm and slaughter facility visited by PETA Asia investigators sells down to RDS-certified suppliers. And their findings tell a very different story.

One abattoir owner who confirmed that her business was RDS-certified admitted that it’s actually audited only every two years, despite the supposed RDS requirement for annual audits. She added that her employees never check for signs of consciousness before stabbing ducks in the neck and slaughtering them.

Ducks Are Individuals, Not Down-Producing Machines

Social and outgoing, ducks are happiest when they’re with their “paddling”, a close-knit group of family members and friends. They swim and fly together in formation and even have regional accents. These birds feel fear and pain just as acutely as humans do and share the same desire to be free of suffering. They need their feathers – we don’t.

With ‘Humane’ Labelling, It’s the Same Old Story

This is the eighth exposé of the down industry that PETA entities have released. And it’s the eighth time pervasive, egregious cruelty has been uncovered.

PETA Asia’s recently released findings from RDS-certified goose farms in Russia – which export down to countries around the world – show a worker stretching geese’s necks across a stump and repeatedly hacking at them with a dull axe while the birds shriek and struggle. Although the RDS stipulates that “waterfowl shall be stunned then killed before they can regain consciousness”, investigators witnessed the animals’ slaughter with no prior stunning. Birds’ wings and feet were still moving for more than five minutes after they had been decapitated.