British stores suspend orders for super fluffy angora wool products after horrifying video reveals cruel techniques used to skin the rabbits
December 15, 2013 Rebecca Evans Dailymail.co.uk
High street fashion stores have cancelled orders for angora wool products after
appalling footage emerged of the barbaric treatment of rabbits in Chinese farms.
The horrific scenes, some of which were published in the Daily Mail last month, show angora rabbits screaming as their fur is torn from their bodies while still alive. In other parts of the footage, obtained by animal rights group Peta, the rabbits are seen tied up by the front and back legs, as their bodies are cut and bloodied as their fur is roughly sheared.
Investigators also found that the rabbits are kept alive for several years in pitiable conditions – forced to endure their torturous ordeal month after month until their throats are finally cut.
In response to the footage and widespread customer outcry, more than 35 companies – including Topshop, H&M, Primark, Whistles and Next – have said they will no longer stock angora products. Marks & Spencer has also said it will halt all future angora orders until it has ‘concluded our visits to farms’. Stella McCartney’s fashion company said it will no longer use angora in any of its products.
A spokesman told the Sunday Times: ‘In light of information released about the widespread despicable treatment of angora rabbits, we have decided to stop all future use of angora in Stella McCartney products. Although we have always guaranteed that our angora wool mix fibres come from a cruelty-free source in Italy, we are no longer willing to encourage the use of angora in luxury fashion.’
The angora rabbit is bred for its long, soft wool that is made up of fine, hollow fibres, making it softer than cashmere and a popular material for jumpers and scarves.
China is responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s supply of angora. Investigators went to ten angora farms and witnessed the widespread abuse of animals at each one. At half of the farms visited, a particularly barbaric form of live plucking is used to remove the fur.
They also found
that the sensitive pads on the rabbits’ feet were being sliced open by the wire
base of their filthy cages – leading to illness and infection –and they are
never given the chance to dig, jump or run. And after their fur has been
removed, they are thrown back into their cage to re-grow their coat in complete
solitude.
Peta, which is campaigning for shoppers to boycott angora wool completely, did not name the farms to protect its sources. Peta’s campaigns manager, Yvonne Taylor, said: ‘Many retailers have taken on board customer complaints, but, while we welcome their decision to stop sourcing angora products, we would urge them to also pull existing angora stock.’
Angora has a trade value of £22 to £28 per kilogram, but the longer hair which comes from plucking, as opposed to shearing, sells for more than double that. The rabbits can live for as long as ten years if treated properly.
Professor Anna Meredith, of the Royal School of Veterinary Studies, said: ‘For a rabbit to vocalise as it does in the video indicates it is in severe distress.’
There are thought to be more than 50 million rabbits on angora farms in China, producing more than 4,000 tonnes of fur a year.
In China,
there are no penalties for the abuse of animals on farms and minimal, if any,
standards to regulate their treatment. It is by far
the world’s biggest producer, followed by Argentina, Chile, the Czech Republic
and Hungary, which produce the bulk of the remaining 10 per cent of the supply
chain. A new law was drafted in 2009, but has not been implemented.
In 2009, campaigners exposed how down used in jackets and other items was being ripped from the bodies of live geese by Chinese suppliers. Two years later it emerged that raccoon dogs were being skinned while still alive to produce imitation sheepskin boots.
Comment: A most vile industry. The human species is totally ruthless, capable of unimaginable atrocities. But there are many who care. Please join forces with us and help stamp out this evil. PETA has just announced a victory - Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger—and all other retailers owned by PVH Corp.—are banning and pulling from their shelves any products made with angora!