Stop skinning animals alive

There are no penalties for abusing animals on fur farms in China, which is the world's largest fur exporter, supplying more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States.

Before they are skinned, animals are yanked from their cages, thrown to the ground, and bludgeoned. Undercover investigators from Swiss Animal Protection/EAST International found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them.

Hanging by the neck from a wire noose, water is poured down their throat through a hose until they drown. Many are skinned while still alive.

This is just one of the horrific scenes captured on video by investigators from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) as they infiltrated the cat and dog fur industry in China, Thailand and the Philippines. Cats and dogs that were once someone's pets, rounded up, transported in sacks and crates. Some are held in dingy, dark unheated buildings during the bitter winter of northern China, often without food or water.

When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their hairless, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals' hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.

When investigators went into another animal market in southern China, they were horrified to find dogs and cats being bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur could be turned into trim and trinkets.

This fur from China is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores. Since China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States and since dog and cat fur is often mislabeled, if you're buying fur, there's no way to tell whose skin you're wearing, including that of a dog or cat.

Around 24 cats are required to make a fur coat, and 10-12 dogs. This number is obviously higher if kittens and puppies are used.
Slaughterhouses

Please, STOP skinning animals alive!

Video: WARNING - viewers may find some images in this report disturbing.