At least 70% of all the world’s ostriches live in South Africa, according to the National Department of Agriculture. The largest birds on earth, they are farmed for their meat, feathers and distinctive, pock-marked (from being plucked) skin, with 90% of these ‘products’ being exported out of the country. And not all farms are like the Jonkers’. A PETA US investigation in 2015 found that baby ostriches were removed at birth (in the wild, they stay for up to three years with their parents, who co-parent), repeatedly plucked alive, and slaughtered (in front of each other) at one year old. In the wild they can live to 40, and are considered to be very intelligent.

Read “Ostrich Feathers Might Be In, But Just How Ethical Are They?” on Refinery29