Are Hermès or Louis Vuitton Behind These Crocodile Factory Farm Plans?
A horrific plan is being hatched in the Northern Territory to build Australia’s biggest crocodile farm, which would imprison up to 50,000 saltwater crocodiles at a time.
Image: mitula.com.au
The proposed farm would be located on a former melon and banana farm, and according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), it would include an egg incubator laboratory, a hatchery, grower pens, finishing pens, an open farm area, refrigerated feed preparation, and storage areas.
Every PETA exposé of the exotic-skins industry has shown that no matter the source – or the “standards” touted by brands – products made from skins involve forcing highly intelligent, sensitive animals to endure squalid imprisonment and a violent death.
From the moment they hatch, farmed crocodiles are denied everything that’s natural and important to them, confined to small concrete pens, and unable to swim freely. When they’re killed, their snouts are bound and they’re electrocuted or shot and then stabbed in the neck to sever their spinal cord.
Wildlife experts warn that the international trade in the skins of exotic animals for luxury fashion promotes the spread of zoonotic diseases, fuelling the risk of more pandemics like the current one. Given the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Northern Territory’s valuable tourism industry, it’s unconscionable that the territory’s government would approve plans for this crocodile farm and risk becoming home to the next potential disease outbreak.
PETA Australia is calling on the Northern Territory government to reject these plans. Now is the time to invest in vegan fashion, not set up factory farms to confine and kill sensitive animals and create breeding grounds for new pathogens.
What Don’t Hermès and Louis Vuitton Want You to Know?
French fashion labels Hermès and Louis Vuitton are said to own or control the overwhelming majority of crocodile farms in the Australian Northern Territory. However, neither Hermès nor Louis Vuitton promotes its ownership of crocodile farms. There is no mention of the brands’ involvement with the farms on their websites, and according to the ABC, farmers bought out by the companies sign non-disclosure agreements barring them from discussing the issue.
Forward-thinking luxury brands like Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Mulberry, and Victoria Beckham have already banned crocodile and other exotic skins in their collections. Please don’t contribute to this cruelty by purchasing anything made from someone else’s skin. Ask Hermès and Louis Vuitton to shed exotic skins now:
