INVESTIGATION: Rabbits Suffer on Fur Farms for Designer Fashion
After a two-year undercover investigation of rabbit farms in Catalonia, Spain, Animal Equality found extensive evidence of cruel treatment. On a hidden camera, distributors named eight major designers, which include Burberry, Dior, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Diane Von Furstenberg, as buyers of fur from these farms.
Animal Equality has now launched a campaign to deter these brands from continuing the sale of fur products. As documented in the video, these highly sensitive animals are forced to live in small cages with hard metal bars for floors and aren’t granted a moment of comfort in their short lives. At about two years of age, the rabbits are clubbed in the head or smashed into the ground, then strung up and skinned.
Animal Equality previously issued letters to each company imploring them to discontinue all sale of fur. The companies’ failure to respond satisfactorily prompted Animal Equality to launch a campaign and petition urging these brands to stop selling fur. With the petition, video and website, Animal Equality aims to educate the public on the truth behind the fur industry and stop these designers from selling any more fur garments and to trade fur for synthetic alternatives, which are readily available.
Although the treatment of rabbits on these Spanish farms may appear unusually rough and cruel, animal neglect are rampant in the fur industry, where animals are viewed as commodities rather than thinking, feeling beings. Animal Equality’s investigation of raccoon and fox farms in China revealed similar conditions as those described here.
- New undercover investigation reveals cruelty inside rabbit farms linked to the UK
- Animal Equality records the killing of minks in one of the biggest fur farms in Spain
