Warning: Distressing Content
CEN/PETAShocking footage has emerged showing helpless animals being electrocuted and beaten at a Russian fur farm.
The footage is part of PETA’s first exposé of the fur trade in the country, and shows rabbits and chinchillas from five different Russian farms being mistreated and killed for their fur.
In the video, animals can be seen trapped inside tiny cages before a worker takes one of the rabbits and hits it on the head repeatedly with a metal pipe – ultimately killing it.
Warning: Distressing Footage
The horrifying footage also shows a chinchilla being electrocuted before its neck is snapped, while the report found another live chinchilla who appeared to be blind, but was still forced to breed.
The investigation also uncovered the fact that some rabbits’ necks were slit while the animals were reportedly still conscious, after employees had strung them up by their legs.
The investigation was carried out in October this year, with one worker at the farms telling PETA animals are killed if they relieve themselves in the ‘wrong’ area of the cage – as ‘any animal must be clean [so] if you produce not clean skin, you’re losing a lot of price’.
CEN/PETAAnother worker reportedly said the farm they work on sells 30% of their product to Kopenhagen Fur, which is an auction house that sells animal skins to companies throughout the world.
It wasn’t just rabbits and chinchillas being killed for their fur; PETA’s investigation found a range of animals – including foxes, minks and sables – trapped in tiny wire-mesh cages across the five different farms.
PETA Senior Vice President of International Campaigns, Jason Baker, said:
Every compassionate shopper should keep firmly in mind that behind every fur coat, collar, or cuff is a filthy wire cage, a shrieking animal, and a blood-soaked slaughterhouse floor.
This holiday season, PETA is urging everyone to help give some peace to these tormented animals by going fur-free.
CEN/PETAAccording to PETA, more than 85% of the fur sold today comes from fur farms, with animals locked up for their entire lives before being killed for their skins.
Living in these conditions often drives the animals ‘insane’, with ‘fighting, self-mutilation and cannibalism’ all common within these facilities.
The methods used to kill animals on fur farms are ‘gruesome, painful and terrifying’, and include: vaginal or anal electrocution, gassing, and poisoning.
CEN/PETAAlthough fur farming became illegal in the UK in 2000, the awful practice still takes place across Europe and the rest of the world. In fact, the PETA report states that the regulation of animal welfare in Russia is practically ‘non-existent’, adding the country does not have any laws to protect farmed animals.
Because of this, PETA asked consumers, designers and retailers to join other fur-free designers and retailers such as Zara, H&M, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Versace, Gucci, and Michael Kors, in a bid to end the practice.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).