Behind the Scenes: How the Fashion Industry Exploits Rabbits
Gentle rabbits scream in pain as their fur is ripped out or their skin is torn off while they’re still conscious. We CAN stop this.
Angora
Angora rabbits have long, soft fur, and many people mistakenly think it’s collected without causing them any harm. But PETA visited angora farms in China, and what we found was so disturbing that more than 220 major retailers have now banned angora. Keep in mind that in China, there are no standards in place to regulate the treatment of animals and no penalties for their abuse.
- Rabbits were yanked out of filthy enclosures by their delicate ears and pinned under workers’ feet while the fur was violently ripped out of their sensitive skin. This caused them to scream in pain.
- Rabbits were yanked out of filthy enclosures by their delicate ears and pinned under workers’ feet while the fur was violently ripped out of their sensitive skin. This caused them to scream in pain.
- Veterinary care was grossly inadequate or non-existent. In many cases, the rabbits weren’t offered any treatment for severe and chronic infections, sores, respiratory distress, malnutrition, blindness, or neurological damage.
- Many rabbits’ heads were tilted at a 90-degree angle. This condition is caused by damage to the ears, likely from being roughly grabbed by them every three months when they’re yanked out of the cages for shearing. Because of the head tilt, they were unable to orient themselves to eat or drink and were slowly dying of starvation and dehydration.
- Most of the rabbits suffered from a severe skin irritation and infection caused by excessive production of saliva that ran down their necks and onto their chests and forelimbs. Many exhibited rapid, open-mouthed breathing brought on by heat stress or respiratory disease.
- Some were so sick and weak that they lay in their own waste and didn’t even respond to being touched.
Fur
Rabbits are gentle, socially complex, intelligent animals with individual personalities, just like dogs and cats. In their natural habitat, they live in scrupulously clean burrows and spend their time foraging for fresh, leafy food and interacting with other members of their warren.
- Exceptional cruelty has been found on every single fur farm that PETA Asia has visited in China.
- Terrified rabbits live in urine-encrusted cages with feces piled up beneath them.
- They arrive at slaughterhouses in cramped wire cages.
- Their throats are slit while they’re still conscious, and they’re hung upside down while they thrash wildly.
- Eyewitnesses noted that the animals weren’t checked for vital signs and some were kicking and twitching as the skin was torn off their bodies.