The video footage shot on five farms by a PETA Asia eyewitness reveals a worker bashing rabbits with a metal pipe and cutting off their heads while they were still conscious, electrocuting chinchillas and breaking their necks, and subjecting animals to other horrors. A worker at one facility said that the farm sells skins to Kopenhagen Fur, which describes itself as the world’s largest fur auction house. Another facility investigated by PETA Asia supplies furs to auction house Saga Furs. For decades, PETA and its affiliates have exposed cruelty on fur farms all over the world, and this latest exposé shows that nothing has changed.

The new video exposes Russian facilities where animals are bred and slaughtered for their fur. One of these massive operations had 700 cages that imprisoned 2,000 animals in just a single shed. The rampant cruelty documented by the eyewitness is the stuff of nightmares, but for the animals themselves, it is terrifyingly real.

Workers Bludgeon and Behead Rabbits While They're Still Alive

At one facility, you can see a worker yank rabbits out of a crate by their sensitive ears before repeatedly bashing them over the head with a metal pipe in a crude attempt to stun them. He then hangs them upside down by the legs and cuts off their heads with a knife, even though some are still alive, all in full view of other frightened rabbits. At least one rabbit was so terrified that she lost control of her bladder.

A Chinchilla Screams in Agony While Being Electrocuted

At another facility, chinchillas were caged in full view of others who were being electrocuted. One screamed and struggled for over a minute during a botched electrocution. According to a worker, the clamps had been placed incorrectly, so the animal wasn’t stunned properly, which prolonged the ordeal. Afterwards, a worker crudely broke the still-living chinchilla’s neck with his fingers.

Workers didn’t bother to verify that animals were unconscious before severing their heads or breaking their necks at these facilities.

Minks, Sables, and Other Animals Are Locked Up and Losing Their Minds

An eyewitness observed that animals used for breeding and some awaiting slaughter were confined to cramped wire-mesh cages that were caked with faeces and hair. At one facility, caged animals were left outdoors, exposed to the elements, while at another, chinchillas were kept in complete darkness in a reeking, unventilated room whenever workers weren’t present. Sables and minks paced frantically from side to side, exhibiting stereotypic behaviour – a sign of captivity-induced madness.

A terrified fox, naturally shy and solitary, crouched at the back of a cage that offered no place to hide, and at another facility, one chinchilla appeared to be blind yet was still forced to breed. A worker said that the animal had sustained an eye injury but that it wasn’t important.

 

Help Animals Suffering in the Fur Industry

According to one worker, at least one of the facilities is a supplier to Kopenhagen Fur, which describes itself as the world’s largest fur auction house. And another fur farm supplies furs to global auction house Saga Furs. Of course, regardless of the country of origin – whether Russia, Canada, China, Finland, France, the US, or elsewhere – all fur involves horrific cruelty, fear, pain, suffering, and death. Please, help animals like the ones you’ve seen in this exposé by never buying fur. Show this video to others, too.

Do more: the new owner of House of Fraser, Sports Direct International, has shamefully reversed the British department-store chain’s no-fur policy, even though animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to filthy cages before finally being beaten, electrocuted, or gassed to death – or even skinned alive.

Please send a message to House of Fraser urging it to reinstate its no-fur policy immediately.

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