Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report<\/a>. <\/p>\nWool contributes a small share of the total earnings – about $460 million in forecast export revenue \u2013 because most sheep shorn in New Zealand are destined for meat processing. <\/p>\n
Sheep meat is forecast to earn $4.4b this year. <\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The New Zealand sheep and shearing industry has faced scrutiny over animal welfare since Peta’s revelations in late 2024. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
Undercover in the woolsheds<\/p>\n
This is the story of how an offshore activist group, working undercover, publicised animal cruelty and how a quintessentially Kiwi industry has responded.<\/p>\n
For nearly a year, someone was inside Kiwi shearing sheds, observing.<\/p>\n
Peta\u2019s \u201cinvestigator\u201d moved between 34 sheep farms and a slaughterhouse between November 2023 and October 2024, secretly filming shearing operations and other farming practices.<\/p>\n
The group claimed 11 of the farms were operating under the ZQ certification, and told the Herald that abuse was witnessed at all 11.<\/p>\n
The Herald asked Peta how the footage was captured, how the investigator was recruited and trained, their nationality, and what role they had taken inside the sheds. <\/p>\n
Peta declined to answer any of those questions, citing the investigator\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n
What Jason Baker, Peta Asia-Pacific\u2019s senior vice-president, was prepared to reveal was that, at each site, the investigator was granted legal access, and that their placements on the different farms ranged from a few days to almost a month. <\/p>\n
By the time the operation ended, the investigator had recorded more than 230 video files, which were passed to MPI.<\/p>\n
It was Peta\u2019s first significant undercover expos\u00e9 in New Zealand, similar to other operations it had run into the wool industry in Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and the United States. <\/p>\n
![\"Screengrabs]()
Screengrabs from Peta’s undercover footage. <\/p>\n
The video footage released publicly by Peta was brutal.<\/p>\n
Sheep punched, stomped on, and thrown down chutes. Deep wounds opened during shearing sewn shut without pain relief. Workers slamming an animal\u2019s head against a wooden board. Carcasses discarded outside sheds. <\/p>\n
The imagery was at odds with the idyllic green pastures grazed by New Zealand\u2019s 22 million-odd sheep.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery animal matters,\u201d Baker told the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe suffering documented in this investigation happens daily at thousands of facilities worldwide. Exposing systemic cruelty is essential to ending it, and the fastest way consumers can help is to stop buying wool immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video files were with MPI by the end of December 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in charge of animals have a responsibility to make sure they are being cared for properly,\u201d Gary Orr, MPI\u2019s director of investigations and compliance support, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a number of instances, what we saw on the video footage provided fell short of those expectations.\u201d <\/p>\n
By last month, MPI had spent more than 4500 staff hours on the investigation. Sixteen investigators had been involved at various stages. <\/p>\n
Twenty-one charges were laid against four individuals working in sheds in Hawke\u2019s Bay, South Canterbury, North Otago and the Mackenzie District. <\/p>\n
Eight more were under investigation. No farms or shearing contractors have been charged.<\/p>\n
MPI declined to say on how many of the 34 farms it had identified potential offending. <\/p>\n
![\"Freshly]()
Freshly shorn lambs back in the field. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
The industry\u2019s reaction<\/p>\n
In a deep Waikato valley, freshly shorn lambs are white dots scattered across the dark hillsides.<\/p>\n
Below, the sound mix of bleats and music is a giveaway that a shearing crew is hard at work. <\/p>\n
Inside a shed, three shearers sweat through a flock of more than 1000 lambs destined for the works. Sweeping up the shorn wool is Piopio-based shearing contractor Mark Barrowcliffe, who is also president of the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association (NZSCA). <\/p>\n
It was frustrating when the Peta footage dropped, he said. <\/p>\n
![\"New]()
New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association president Mark Barrowcliffe (left) helps Luka Small, Harris Tohengaroa and Garth Macrae to complete their work. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
While it was a concentration of moments taken over nearly a year, \u201cwe can\u2019t say that it wasn\u2019t us, because there\u2019s footage that tells otherwise \u2013 it was our industry\u201d. <\/p>\n
As in any job, challenges and pressures could lead to bad behaviour, but that was no excuse for abusing an animal, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about giving people tools to manage bad days … you\u2019ve got to mentor them through different stages of their lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Shearing is almost exclusively learned on the job, and the best were those who knew how to handle and read the animals, Barrowcliffe said. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t always this way. A structured national training programme, funded through the Wool Board levy, collapsed when farmers voted out the levy in 2009. <\/p>\n
The baby was thrown out with the bathwater, Barrowcliffe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe old system had regimented, consistent courses. You knew there was one every November in a certain area.\u201d<\/p>\n
A single shear could involve 40 individual strokes and multiple foot stances – a bit like a complex road map, Barrowcliffe said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you flip a sheep up, you\u2019re actually putting it in an unnatural position, and it wants to naturally get back up on its four feet. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, really, we want to try and give it the haircut in the safest possible way for it and us, and then get it back on its feet out in the paddock with its mates \u2013 and it\u2019s happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The New Zealand sheep and shearing industry has faced scrutiny over animal welfare since a Peta expos\u00e9 in late 2024. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
One reaction to the Peta footage has been the introduction of a $75,000 animal welfare programme funded in parts by MPI, PGG Wrightson, Zentera Wool, Wool Impact and NZSCA, with support from the New Zealand Veterinary Association.<\/p>\n
The programme included not just the how, but also \u201cthe whys\u201d of animal welfare. <\/p>\n
Barrowcliffe included another key incentive. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe shearers are definitely open to it. They understand why, and they realise they\u2019re dealing with a high-priced commodity, like a thousand sheep at 200 bucks … we\u2019re holding $200,000 worth of sheep with our legs every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZSCA chief executive Phil Holden agreed the issue of animal abuse was being taken seriously, but believed the actions in the video footage were not systemic in the shearing industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact now that charges have been laid and it\u2019s before the courts is appropriate, and that process will follow its course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holden conceded that Peta\u2019s expos\u00e9 reflected poorly on New Zealand\u2019s brand in international markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re acutely aware of the role that we play in terms of the brand integrity of New Zealand Wool Inc.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been conscious of our role, and I think that\u2019s why the industry\u2019s come together through the Crown the way that it has because everyone is very, very focused on the impact on New Zealand Wool Inc.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in the shed, the shearers cut the final grabs of wool from the sheep and shoo them down chutes.<\/p>\n
Then it\u2019s pack-up time: turn off the tunes, dismantle the electric hand unit, carefully wrap the combs and cutters, and off home or to the next job.<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The combs and cutters used for shearing are carefully packed away. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
High stakes<\/p>\n
For Zentera Wool, the stakes were high. High-quality wool was its main product, and its business was a target of Peta\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
The Christchurch-based company recorded operating revenue of $128.5m in its most recent financial year, marketing wool to customers across Europe, North America and Asia.<\/p>\n
Its more than 600 ZQ grower base supplies some of the world\u2019s best-known outdoor and fashion brands, including Smartwool and Icebreaker.<\/p>\n
When Peta\u2019s footage landed, some of Zentera\u2019s biggest brand customers were receiving upwards of 500 emails a day from activists pressuring them to drop New Zealand wool.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we saw the footage, we got together very quickly to determine what was the best course of action,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe course of action wasn\u2019t to rebut the footage. The course of action was to get stuck in and find out what was happening in shearing sheds around the country to ensure the practices were of a high standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two ZQ-certified farms recognised their own properties in the publicly released footage and self-identified to Zentera within days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were shocked to see their own properties and to see what was happening,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n
Both had their wool quarantined in the supply chain, were suspended from the ZQ programme and investigated by Control Union, an independent international auditing body contracted by Zentera to verify whether its ethical standards were being met.<\/p>\n
![\"Zentera]()
Zentera Wool chief executive Angus Street (left) and global supply general manager Matt Hand.<\/p>\n
Control Union concluded the deliberate abuse shown in the publicly released footage had not occurred on either of the two farms. However, both breached ZQ standards around staff training and supervision. After completing corrective action, they were reinstated.<\/p>\n
Zentera requested the identities of the other ZQ-registered farms from MPI and Peta. The request was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
The company also implemented a series of actions that included welfare-focused spot inspections, investigating installing monitoring cameras on farms, and the appointment of trained, designated animal welfare officers during shearing for each ZQ property.<\/p>\n
Zentera chief executive Angus Street said the company unequivocally condemned the mistreatment of animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnimal welfare is at the heart of what we do and the ZQ standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since July last year, Zentera had been running in-shed camera trials across several of its ZQ-certified properties as part of a 24-month pilot programme, Hand told the Herald.<\/p>\n
Another six were planned for the upcoming shearing season across New Zealand and Australia.<\/p>\n
The idea was to trial various camera systems in varying environments.<\/p>\n
The different set-ups cost between $1200 and $8000 per shed, depending on size and layout, he said.<\/p>\n
Zentera was also exploring how shearing contractors could supply their own system for about $60-$80 a day.<\/p>\n
How the footage might be used in the future was not yet set down, but any captured in the trials was currently held by Zentera, growers and auditors, and not MPI, Hand said.<\/p>\n
Cameras were already commonplace in other industries, and their arrival in woolsheds was overdue rather than radical. <\/p>\n
He conceded that Peta had accelerated the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cCameras have been implemented in so many other industries. They are not rare by any stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeta perhaps may have fast-forwarded something that was inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Peta]()
Peta continues to campaign against wool industries across the globe including in New Zealand. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
\u2018An industry built on violence\u2019<\/p>\n
For Peta, the recent charges against four individuals are welcome, but its campaign continues. <\/p>\n
Its position is unchanged: that abuse is inevitable wherever animals are exploited for commercial gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a few bad actors; it\u2019s an industry built on violence,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeta\u2019s investigations encompass only 34 New Zealand facilities out of thousands, so it\u2019s sobering to imagine the suffering that has not been caught on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mark]()
Mark Barrowcliffe loads a wool press on a farm near Piopio. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
Barrowcliffe, like others across the wool industry, is reflective.<\/p>\n
The whole saga is not just about the individuals who will find themselves in court, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does come further up the line \u2013 how can we stop that from happening because we take the issue at the coalface away and we haven\u2019t got a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s what we\u2019re all about \u2013 together stopping any of this from happening in the future, going onwards and upwards \u2013 and then everyone\u2019s happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Scott has covered stories across New Zealand and internationally for more than 20 years. His work spans writing, photography and video and has won numerous journalism awards.<\/p>\n
Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The group claimed the poor treatment was happening on numerous farms, including some certified under the New Zealand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1903,95,3648,110,16637,4510,16118,17309,19473,209,221,16569,648,2454,12898,702,3025,111,43,139,69,4732,225082,37882,12718,86009,6102,223,47840,12970,216078,2963],"class_list":["post-440898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-abuse","tag-and","tag-animal","tag-brutal","tag-cameras","tag-dark","tag-export","tag-exposed","tag-footage","tag-group","tag-how","tag-iconic","tag-industries","tag-industry","tag-investigation","tag-it","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offshore","tag-peta","tag-responded","tag-rights","tag-shook","tag-side","tag-the","tag-undercover","tag-wool","tag-yearlong","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}