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A PETA video exposé of the mohair industry in South Africa — the source of more than 50 percent of the world’s mohair — prompted several top international retailers, including San Francisco–based Gap Inc., to ban mohair.

A PETA video exposé of the mohair industry in South Africa — the source of more than 50 percent of the world’s mohair — prompted several top international retailers, including San Francisco–based Gap Inc., to ban mohair.

The company will no longer source mohair products for its Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic or Athleta brands.

PETA’s exposé looks at 12 farms visited in January and February and shows workers dragging goats by the horns and legs and lifting them off the floor by the tail, which could break their spines. Goat kids being shorn for the first time cried out in fear. Afterward, workers threw them across the floor.

PETA has asked law-enforcement agencies to investigate and file charges, as appropriate, for what the group believes are violations of South Africa’s Animals Protection Act.

“Baby goats were left screaming in pain and fear on the shearing floor, all for mohair sweaters and scarves,” PETA drector of corporate affairs Anne Brainard said in a news release. “PETA is urging shoppers to check clothing labels carefully and, if it says ‘mohair,’ leave it on the rack.”

PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” — reported that many of the goats’ sensitive ears were mutilated with pliers, which left them screaming in pain. Shearers, paid by volume, worked quickly and carelessly, leaving goats cut up and bleeding. Workers roughly stitched them up without giving them any pain relief.

Farmers admitted that after shearing, many goats die from exposure to wind and rain — 40,000 reportedly died of exposure across South Africa in just one weekend.

Unwanted goats also died. At one farm, a worker cut the throats of fully conscious goats with a dull knife and then broke their necks, hacking one animal’s head right off. Other goats were hauled to a slaughterhouse, where they were electrically shocked, hung upside down and slashed across the throat.

In addition to Gap Inc., Arcadia Group will no longer purchase mohair for any of its eight brands, which include Topshop. Inditex’s seven apparel brands, which include Zara, and H&M Group’s eight brands will be mohair-free by 2020.

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