It takes an average of three cows' hides to cover the interior of a standard car. Here's a look at what you could be supporting if you buy a General Motors, Toyota, or Volkswagen car among others with seats, steering wheels, and gearshifts covered with leather.

Calves Torn Away From Their Mothers

The life of a cow in Brazil is short and painful. The eyewitness found that workers dragged calves away from their mothers and forced them to the ground by twisting their necks. One calf was yanked up by her ears and tail to make her move. It is also standard procedure for workers to punch holes in their ears without the use of painkillers.

Faces Branded With Hot Irons

To show ownership of the calves, workers on a cattle ranch that supplies JBS used hot irons to brand them on the face – without any pain relief and counter to the minimum animal-welfare recommendations by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. Older cattle were also forced into chutes, where they panicked and kicked as workers branded them on the back.

  • Workers prepare hot irons to brand the cows

  • A worker pins down a cow to brand her on the face with hot iron

  • Workers brand calves on the face with hot irons and no pain relief

  • A worker steps on a calf’s face to keep her still while branding her

  • This calf panics and becomes trapped inside a narrow chute after trying to turn around

  • Workers trap this cow in a chute and brand her on the back with a hot iron and no pain relief.

    • Panic, Beatings, and Bloody Wounds

    On the ranches, cows were forced into tight chutes for handling. The intense crowding led cows to panic and trample each other. Workers then kicked them and yanked them by their ears and tails. In desperation, some cattle tried to jump fences to escape. The eyewitness also saw a calf with a severe maggot infestation, a cow with a swollen head, and cows with open, bloody wounds.

    Electroshocked on Their Way to Slaughter

    When cows are roughly 3 years old, the ranchers send them to JBS-owned slaughterhouses. Workers jab cows around the anus with metal-tipped sticks and electric shock prods to force them onto the cramped trucks used to take them to slaughter.

  • Workers hit and jab cows with metal-tipped sticks.

  • Workers shock the cows around the anus to force them onto the trucks headed to the slaughterhouses.

  • Cows headed to JBS SA slaughterhouses endure long rides in filthy trucks.

    • Killed, Skinned, Exported

    When cows are roughly 3 years old, the ranchers send them to JBS-owned slaughterhouses. Workers jab cows around the anus with metal-tipped sticks and electric shock prods to force them onto the cramped trucks used to take them to slaughter.

  • It takes average of three cows’ hides to produce just one leather interior.

  • Steering wheels and geershifts are often covered with leather from processors like JBS SA.

  • Steering wheels and geershifts are often covered with leather from processors like JBS SA.

    • You Can Help End This Cruelty

    General Motors, Volkswagen, and Toyota are among dozens of major car companies connected to JBS, including the following:

    The horrific treatment of cows on Brazilian cattle ranches is hardly an anomaly, as branding, ear-tagging, and electroshock are standard practices in the leather industry. Violent treatment of cows has been documented during transport in India, in slaughterhouses in Bangladeshon factory farms in the US, and elsewhere.

    Please, before purchasing a vehicle, remember the gentle calves, cows, and bulls who are suffering at the hands of the auto industry as well as for fashion items from retailers such as Clarks, Sperry, Payless, and Rockport and for furniture sold in stores like Costco and Macy’s – all companies that have been linked to JBS.

    Choosing vegan leather reduces the demand for skins from cows who are branded and shocked – just like those you’ve seen here – and who suffer every step of the way.

    Do more: Urge the world’s largest car companies—General Motors, Volkswagen, and Toyota—to replace their leather interiors with vegan leather in all their car models so that consumers like you can easily make the compassionate choice for animals. Send Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller an e-mail at [email protected].

    Calves Dragged and Face-Branded for Leather Car Interiors

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