Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruellest killing methods available, including neck breaking, genital or anal electrocution, suffocation, poisoning and gassing.
And despite what furriers may say, there is simply no kind way to rip the skin off an animal's back.
Recently, PETA Asia Pacific investigated two rabbit fur farms in the Shandong region of China and found rabbits confined to small, filth-encrusted cages. The stench of ammonia from urine-soaked floors burns the rabbits' eyes and lungs, and many die of painful respiratory diseases. One of the farms keeps 20,000 caged rabbits, and kills as many as 2,000 of them in a day.
The rabbits are killed when they are still just babies – only four or five months old. Workers at the farms pull rabbits out of cages by their ears and stun them in the head with hand-held electrical devices – often multiple times – while the terrified animals kick and scream.
Rabbits are prey animals – it's in their nature to hide their pain and to stay quiet in order to avoid attracting
the attention of predators. So you can imagine how
utterly terrified a rabbit must be before he or she resorts
to screaming.
After the rabbits are stunned, they are hung upside-down in metal shackles and decapitated.
China is now the largest supplier of fur in the world, in part because of its lack of animal welfare regulations. But even in countries with animal welfare laws, animals are poisoned, gassed and electrocuted for their fur, all legally.
Animals on fur farms in Europe and the US spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy cages, often with no protection from the driving rain or the scorching sun. Diseases and injuries are widespread. Many animals go insane from the confinement and relentless boredom and develop self-destructive behaviours, like chewing on their own limbs. Others huddle helplessly at the back of their cage, paralysed with fear.
Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruellest killing methods available, including neck-breaking, genital or anal electrocution, suffocation, poisoning and gassing. Animals who are electrocuted convulse, shake and cry out in excruciating pain as they die of heart attacks. Many of these crude methods only stun the animals, who then "wake up" while they are being skinned.
Every year, during Canada's annual commercial seal slaughter, hundreds of thousands of baby seals are beaten to death for their fur. It's horrifying to know that most of the seals killed are just three months old or even younger. Many are still nursing and have not yet learned how to swim. Unable to escape, seal pups are bashed over the head repeatedly with spiked clubs, while their mothers – who are powerless to protect them – watch and wail nearby.
Being heartbroken about this suffering is not enough. The cruel fur trade will end only when consumers speak out and refuse to buy or wear real fur. Saving animals is as simple as choosing stylish, synthetic alternatives.
Fashionable, animal-friendly clothing is widely available in every price range, and many leading designers and retailers, from Stella McCartney to H&M, have adopted fur-free policies. Please join us in fighting fur: make the compassionate choice to shun fur, including fur trim, forever.
