Warning: Graphic pictures and video below.
Animal rights activists are urging Manchester shoppers to buy ‘cruelty-free’ this Christmas as the city gears up for Cyber Sunday – the busiest shopping day of the year.
PETA has obtained shocking footage of rabbits used in the Chinese angora fur industry, where 90% of the world’s angora fur hails from, which shows workers violently ripping the fur from the animals’ skin as they scream out in pain.
They undergo this torturous procedure every three months for three to five years, after this their throats are slit and the skin is teared from their lifeless bodies one final time.
PETA UK Associate Director Mimi Bekhechi said: “PETA UK is appealing to shoppers this holiday season.
“Please take the time to read the label on that sweater or scarf. If it says ‘angora,’ remember the gentle rabbits whose fur was cruelly ripped out of their skin and leave the item on the rack.”
Designers such as Jonathan Saunders, Karen Millen and Emilio Pucci all feature angora in their collections this season which are on sale in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.
CRUEL: Rabbit being tethered for Angora fur shearing, arguably more humane than the fur ripping
Luxury fashion descriptions use innocuous terms such as ‘soft, sumptuous and super tactile’ to describe the garment, hiding the sinister side of the production process.
Rabbits who have their fur cut or sheared also suffer during the cutting process, their front and back legs are tightly tethered, a terrifying experience for any animal, and the sharp cutting tools wound them as they struggle desperately to escape.
They spend their solitary lives in barren wire cages that harm their feet and are denied solid flooring, bedding and the companionship of other rabbits.
In China, there are no penalties for animal abuse on rabbit farms.
Warning: Extreme animal cruelty captured by undercover PETA animal rights activist in China below.
Pictures and video footage courtesy of PETA UK, with thanks
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