A new undercover exposé by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals revealed the horrors that lie in in the two farms of Zimbabwe and one of Texas that supply crocodile and alligator skins to Hermès-owned tanneries.
PETA has filed complaints with Texas authorities over the illegal acts of cruelty to animals that were caught on video by a PETA US investigator at Lone Star Alligator Farms in Winnie, Texas. The document shows workers shooting alligators in the head multiple times with a captive-bolt gun and sawed into the back of their necks with a box cutter and inserting metal rod in their spinal columns. PETA also filmed a person it identifies as the manager of the farm referring to the alligators as “watchbands.”
The video at Padenga Holdings crocodile farms in Kariba, Zimbabwe shows crocodiles kept in inhumane conditions. PETA states that Padenga has an ownership stake in the Texas farm.
The animal right group is also calling for consumers to petition Hermès, via a form on its Web site, to ask the luxury goods firm to stop making designs made from crocodile and alligator skins.
