Sometimes, information presents itself that is so stirring, so disturbing, so utterly inconceivable that even those of us paying attention to these issues are shaken to the core.
Such was the case when I chose to view the undercover video of a Chinese fur farm taken by investigators of Care for the Wild, EAST International, and Swiss Animal Protection.
For those who don’t have the stomach to watch this kind of video, here is a description of the scenes. The investigation reveals that before the raccoon dogs are skinned alive, they are thrown to the ground with a forceful blow to the head and then bludgeoned with metal rods in attempt to stun the animal. More often than not, the animal’s bones are broken and they are temporarily stunned rather than dead. 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. The video shows workers on these farms cutting the skin and fur from an animal’s leg while the free limbs kick and writhe. When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile. Reports indicate that some of the animals are still alive, hearts beating for as long as 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.
Prior to their unimaginably painful death, the animals live in the cruelest of conditions as they pace and shiver in outdoor wire cages, exposed to all of the elements – rain, freezing nights, or scorching sun. Not surprisingly, injury and disease are commonplace. Anxiety-induced psychosis leads to self-mutilation, infanticide and other extreme, desperate behaviors.
The Swiss Animal Protection / East-International 2007 report, Dying for fur – A Report on the Fur Industry in China, informs us that “there are no regulations governing fur farms in China—farmers can house and slaughter animals however they see fit.” Two of the most important laws covering animals in China – the Environment Protection Law and the Wildlife Protection Law – only protect wildlife in the wild. Wild animals in captivity are treated as mere property, resources, or objects. China is one of the few countries in the world without any legal provisions for animal welfare and furthermore, there are no acts banning cruelty in the Chinese legal system.
Based on a survey of U.S. retail outlets many of the mass-marketed fur-trimmed garments carry the “Made in China” label. However, with our globalized market, China-originated fur pelts are disbursed through international auctions prior to being sewn in other countries. Therefore, the final fur product label could read “Made in Italy” or “Made in France,” making it impossible for consumers to know where the fur originates. Furthermore, manufacturing techniques such as dying often deceive shoppers into thinking they are buying fake fur.
Compounding this issue is the fact that Chinese fur farms deal not only in minks, foxes, and raccoon dogs, but domestic cats and dogs as well (some with their companion collars still affixed). The fur’s original species is indistinguishable to the typical end user. All the more reason to be relentless with the message to all who will listen that fur – even if it is “fake” – is a frivolous, unnecessary, and irresponsible purchase that supports animal cruelty in its worst form.
As I sit here in the middle of the couch, flanked by a peacefully resting dog to my left and cat to my right, the contrast in how some humans treat animals is a profound mystery to me. How is it that we are all of the same species (humans) and yet our values and, thus our capabilities, regarding treatment of animals can range from doting to mere tolerance to depraved indifference to barbarism? And I don’t just mean those who skin the animals. The people who buy the fur are just a culpable as those who hold the skinning knife.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: animal abuse, animal advocacy, animal cruelty, animal ethics, animal law, animal rights, animal suffering, animal welfare, animals, Chinese fur farming, exotic animals, fur, fur farming, raccoon dogs |
Animal Blawg 
For those who think this is primarily an issue with China, I want to add that the fur farming industry in North America, is no better. The animals here are ‘killed’ with either Carbon monoxide or dioxide gas, which renders them unconscious- giving them the appearance of being dead, or anal electrocution, where the current doesn’t pass through the brain (like it needs to to actually kill the animal) but stops at the heart, also giving the appearance of death. Both methods are ineffective at guaranteeing death, and often the animals here are skinned alive as well. A big problem is that the fur industry is essentially a self regulated industry. The fur farmers set standards for themselves for how the animals should be raised and killed, which is just…completely useless. Furthermore, some of the biggest fur farming organizations, Fur Commission USA and the International Fur Trade Federation, provide membership to fellow fur farmers that is completely voluntary, so there is technically no incentive nor requirement to follow the guidelines (as meager as they are) from these organizations. Finally, Fur Commission USA claims that its euthanasia guidelines follow the American Veterinary Associations Guidelines to Euthanasia. However, the AVMA has declared cervical dislocation, microwave irradiation (where a microwave unit is directed at the head of a mouse or rat to kill it) and maceration (a mechanical device with rotating blades which chops up day old poultry) as all acceptable euthanasia methods (which begs the question, why are we even listening to the AVMA). Also, fur farming isn’t covered by either the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act nor the Animal Welfare Act, so they are essentially as unregulated and unprotected as they are in China. So I just wanted to let everyone know, that while the video of the Chinese fur farm is horrific, (it truly was perhaps one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen in my life) the fate of fur farmed animals here in the U.S. is not much better, and I expect that the same horrific video could be captured here in our backyard too. Although, thanks to the AETA (Animial Enterprise Terrorism Act) we will probably never see the likes of these videos unless someone is brave enough to face prosecution as a terrorist. It is a bleak situation, China, here and everywhere that fur farms exist.
Yes, you make an excellent point that is important for all to recognize. My reasoning for focusing on the Chinese Fur Farms is that according to the Animal Welfare Institute, fur from China ends up in virtually every mall in America – on jackets and other garments with fur collars, trim, and lining. This new approach to fur retail has reinvigorated the fur industry. China is feeding this new fashion frenzy as the world’s leading producer of fox and raccoon dog pelts and the second largest producer of mink pelts. According to the Swiss Animal Protection / East-International, 85% of the world’s fur originates from Chinese farms. Given the large percentage of the market share, China is an important focus. Having said that, we should not marginalize the fur farm cruelty in our own backyard.
Michelle, how very well put. What is humanity, but how we treat the silent innocents at our mercy? What lack of self reflection must we have not to see our own crimes against those same entities and be ashamed? Our intellect is wasted in vast numbers of people about the world.
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Michelle, what an excellent post. I’ve wondered how to present this information (having also seen the excruciating video) on a blog I administrate for Not One Sparrow, a Christian voice for animals. I was wondering if you and the Animal Blag would be at all amenable to giving me permission to crosspost the piece, perhaps a few more weeks down the road? I would be deeply grateful, and happy of course to refer to the blog and your work with Pace in the process. Best wishes,
Ben DeVries
Ben, by all means, please share the piece as a cross-posting on your Not One Sparrow site. I am pleased to have the post distributed to an even wider viewership. Thanks for your work in helping to give aniimals a voice.
Thank you very much, Michelle, I’m very grateful for your offer, and will certainly take you up on it in the near future. Please feel free to get in touch with me anytime (my email, if not visible within the comment, is available via Not One Sparrow’s connect page), and again, thank you.
Ben DeVries
I do have some comments to make.
While I am in total sympathy with all of you, and agree with the desirability of bringing these awful processes to an end, I can confirm that Steph was quite right in his claims.
There is not a lot of difference in the methods used in fur production throughout the world. It is unfortunate for fur animals that the quality of the fur is actually improved if the animal has a vestige of life at the time it is skinned. The hair follicles in the skin are surrounded by erectile tissue which is designed to make the fur (or hair, in the case of humans) stand on end in order to make the animal look bigger to a predator. This happens with the occurrence of fear, and makes the fur look deeper and more luxuriant. Coincidently, it also grips the roots of individual hairs more strongly and prevents the hair shedding. Since the fur fetches a better price and is labelled ‘prime’ at auction, live skinning is far from rare.
The difference is that in many parts of Asia, animal welfare is not considered important, and not many attempts are made to conceal their actions. The skinners fall into the same classification as slaughter men the world over. They see nothing wrong with their actions.
I think it a pity that organisations like PETA use word-spin to such an extent. If one surfs the web, you find that this same piece of horrific film is claimed to portray racoon dogs and foxes, which they are, but also as cats and dogs. A number of people who place films on UTube quite clearly believe that the foxes are dogs.
Certainly, both dogs and cats are given the same treatment on occasions, but not solely for fur, because the meat of all the animals we have been considering is used as human food as well.
Another attempt at emotive persuasion is the statement that dogs wearing collars constitutes proof that they have been pets. In fact the majority of dogs bred in China and Korea specifically for meat wear collars purely for convenience.
Rupertbear
[…] insightful post from a fellow blogger about the Chinese fur farm industry. Please read about it at Animalblawg.wordpress.com Posted by Jenny Filed in animal cruelty Tags: chinese fur farms, fur, racoon dogs No […]
skinning of any animal whether it be in china or america or africa should be abolished,, wats wrong with fake fur, its only to make money from it,, damn u stupid people who do it and believe in it, how about skinning you and leaving you to die and selling it to louis vuitton on nike for a pair of shoes!!!
Recently, the brutally revealing video of the skinning of live animals at a fur market in China was forwarded to me. I managed to few about 15 seconds and wish I have never done so. I still have not forgotten the images I briefly saw.
In reading the thread on this blog, I understand that many others are as repulsed and disturbed by what is happening on the fur farms in China (and blogger STEPH offers an important note that this practice is not uncommon here in the US also). The fur industry worldwide, it seems, plays entirely by its own set of rules with absolute inscrutability.
Here’s my question: what needs to be done to stop the barbaric practice of skinning live animals in China? Who is leading an initiative to bring that to fruition?
We can commiserate all we want for these poor creatures in this and other internet blogs, but WHAT IS IT WE CAN DO TO EFFECTIVELY PUT A STOP TO THIS PRACTICE? How do we stop it?
Education is key. If we educate people about what they are supporting when they purchase fur products, this will have an impact, albeit an indirect one (and a slow one at that, it will take time to trickle though the system to a desirable end). The fur industry is a business, and like most businesses its all about supply and demand. If there is no demand for the product then there is no need to supply it. So, while it seems and feels fruitless to complain about this and post blogs on the situation, it really is the only thing we can do right now to make an impact, because the more people we educate about the practice the more people will be turned off by fur products and the less demand there will be. As far as making a difference legally, well that’s a bit harder. We can’t even change the legality of the fur farming practice here in the US, so the possibility of stopping this in China is even more remote, if not impossible. However, there is currently a bill that has been introduced in Congress to amend the Fur Labeling Act here in the US. Right now products with less than $150 worth of fur on them are not required to be labeled as containing fur. This is an unfortunate loophole that many designers and companies are using so that they don’t have to notify their consumers that they are purchasing fur products. This, combined with the fact that many faux fur products are mislabeled and actually contain fur from these Chinese farms, makes it very hard for caring consumers to effectively make compassionate, ethical purchases. So, you could call your House and Senate representatives to encourage them to pass this bill which will fix this loophole. The link for information on the bill is:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2480/show
It hasn’t been voted on by either the Senate or the House
yet. So that’s one thing you can do that might make you feel a bit more proactive in this cause. You can also educate people, not only on the fur farming practice itself, but this bill as well, and have them contact their legislators.
Finally, going back to my point about not having much say in what China is doing with their animals over there (not just their fur farmed animals, but animals in general) there are some efforts being made (I think by the RSPCA in Great Britain) to educate China on why they should be more humane to their animals. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details (I’m just going off memory from an RSPCA speaker I saw in the fall that spoke about this, so if anyone wants to clarify or give more information feel free) but basically they are trying to educate people over there about the need for humane treatment of animals. I think he was speaking specifically about educating them on the sentience of animals and how they should try alternative slaughtering methods in their meat markets. It was somewhat uplifting because apparently many people in the markets didn’t understand that the animals they keep in awful crates/boxes etc who are then slaughtered gruesomely in front of their customers, actually feel pain and actually have emotions etc, so many of them, upon being educated, adopted alternate methods to how they killed and ‘housed’ the animals. So there is some progress there but again it revolves around education. But, have no fear, education can do the trick. Take the Canadian seal hunt for example. Enough people became so outraged by the practice that many businesses, restaurants, and grocery stores, to show their solidarity with the concerns of their customers and with the animal movement (if you can consider this solidarity) stopped accepting seafood items from Canada. And recently the EU has decided to ban all seal imports from Canada, which is going to essentially wipe out the entire industry considering the EU was the primary purchaser of seal products. So, rest assured, small blogs like this are helpful, if not essential, to the movement, even if it doesn’t seem that way, and even if the effects aren’t direct and immediate. Hope this helps 🙂
I’m a concerned reader from South Africa.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but are these petitions floating on the net to stop this cruelty achieving anything? I feel that this is problem that requires the people against it, to unite and present it to governments, and to the public with means of a real massive demonstration. People are just not involved enough. And these petitions honestly get ignored.
Everyone sees the images and videos on the internet, but how often do we see the daily news, or newspaper reporting about this on a continual basis? How often do we here our leaders like Obama approaching this matter?
There isn’t enough global awareness. In France when a public service like pension or the medical needs improvement, 30000 people take to the streets, protest, and the problem is dealt with. Now imagine if we could get those numbers to protest publicly, but not randomly at one city at a time, a global event. A start could then be achieved.
I read a while back about a simple way to spread awareness. 90% of products used in our daily lives are obviously made in Asia, and mainly in China. Unfortunately we can’t boycott them, cause will be affecting the outside economies. But we can certain boycott products like Samsung or KIA for example that will affect the Chinese and North Korean economies directly. It’s a small method, but generally when I walk into a store these days, and salesmen tries with a Chinese or Korean product, I tell him and the people around when I’ve chosen not to purchases it. At times it has frustrated the store, or the people I’m with, but at times been thanked for bringing this matter to their attention, which they totally unaware of. It’s a way to spread awareness I guess. This could also be applied to stores that sell fur in Europe and North America.
With that said, I still would like to know what can I do to get more involved to help stop this?
This skinning of animals must stop. I lasted through the whole video unfortunatley but just had to carry on to understand what torture these animals are going through. I have begged my mum to pay £2/$2 a month to help those animals kept at the fur farms in china. After i watched a video i cried my eyes out for at least an hour and thinking how lucky i am not to be beaten or brutally attacked. These animals do not deserve that. I think whoever skins these animals should be locked up for the rest of thier lives. There is no reason for it, the animals are still alive for up to 10 minutes after they have been skinned. This is a discrace. The fur only get’s put in a cupboard and then the pore suffering animals getting chucked onto a pile of other heartbroken animals suffering. If i could risk my life for them i would. Especially after seeing a video, where they stand on the animals heads and necks and smacking them with knives. What is up with these people.
Awe. I watched it now I’m gonna have nightmares! Ya know I’m only 10 and I was looking at pictures for my raccoon dog project and now Chinese peeps are gonna make me have night mares! Can’t they just put them to sleep?!
Yes, Michelle, I do get what you’re trying to say.
I had no idea that these wonderful animals even existed until today. I’m a wildlife rehabilitator and my favorite animals to rehabilitate are raccoons. It just breaks my heart what’s happening to these animals. Thanks for covering that.
‘even if it is “fake”’
I have to say while I’m quite shocked by the article, I don’t agree with the above sentiment I quoted. I think wearing, or purchasing faux fur is just fine; as long as you read the label carefully to make sure it is just that. If it doesn’t say on the label that it is 100% man made fibers, I will not buy a product, even if I think it’s probably fake.
why do humans even need fur????……however the method, the motive is wrong to raise animals in small cages, depriving them of their natural habitats and habits and kill them for their fur only…what happens to the meat…it rots away..
and for your info, reptile skinning is just the same or even worse..snakes, aligators, crocodiles are skinned mercilessly to make wallets, handbags, belts, jackets…everyone has these at home!..think and educate others please
Thanks for your concerning post Michelle!! What can we do to make this stop?!! I want to take action against people that hurt animals. However i always seem to be at a loss when i think of what action to take.
I want to go on the major television shows to bring this to the public’s attention. I feel that once it is brought to the attention of the public, we will have a better chance of getting this stopped. Especially when famous people see this and are sickened to their stomachs, I know that this will be the beginning of getting this sick live skinning of animals stopped immediately. Not another animal should have to endure such torture.I am very sickened by this. Please e-mail me as soon as possible. Thank you.
[…] the industry with Raccoon Dogs as the most commonly misrepresented type of fur. A previous post here explained that Raccoon Dog fur is often labeled as a different animal, as “faux” fur, or […]
China was the first country to recover from the world wide financial crisis of last year. There are, as I type, news programs on TV stations covering the meeting with US President and Thailand. China sounds to be calling the shots with these two. China is not some little 3 world nation struggling to survive. They are world leaders in industry, commerce and even medical.
They are a nation that demands (not hopes for) respect from our Politicians. Their lack of interest in human rights (the poor animals don’t even get a thought), give them the power to destroy any other nation (economiclly).. and THIS is why governments dont want to deal with their treatment of animals. Do you not realise why there is very limited media coverage? The fashion industry relys on celebrities to be seen with their creations. Media relys on celebrities because a celebrity will bring in far more ratings than even a polly can. The fashion/media industries are bedbuddies. You can contact all the TV News media that you want… a lot of the individual people care, but they are OWNED by much bigger fish who’s major shareholders,… are from China. You will only ever see coverage concerning animal treatment on large scales, if the public outcry for a particular problem, is loud enough to risk upsetting the shareholders. Remember the outcry over the Minkie Whales in Australia last year???? That was beautiful! So, use any means you can think of, to bring any kind of animal cruelty issue you feel effected from. The internet is the perfect means of making people aware. EVERYTIME you see a post…. share it. Don’t just shake your head, wipe a tear off your cheek, then go play games on facebook. Put the links out there!
I don’t even know what to say… I am not one that is very knowledgeable on this sort of thing. I came across this site because I was looking up raccoons because my neighbor found some baby ones at a construction site.
This is HORRIBLE. I myself have 11 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 geckos. And to see this kind of treatment to any animal made me cry. I could not watch more than 30 seconds of this video. This is NOT humane. Anyone who participates in such brutal murdering cannot ever believe they are going to face an afterlife that doesn’t involve the fiery depths of hell.
I wanted to hit that guy over the head and skin him and see how he likes it. Animals may not have the brain capacity that we do but it does not mean they cannot feel. Their life does matter and they deserve to be here more than us I believe.
I thank you Michelle for being brave enough to post this out here and I will do what I can to help spread knowledge of these savages.
I just started an email chain and posted on my regular blog boards about this site and the peta one.
I want to spread knowledge of these heinous acts and animal cruelty all together.
Well done Lisa, and good luck. It’s amazingly difficult to get people to respond to this disgusting practice. Everyone feels shocked, saddend, sickened… but those that CAN do something, just don’t seem to want to go there. But one day, someone will care enough to take this on, so the more we share the link around, the more chance there is that THAT person will see and act.
hi there everyone,
I think this is a unfortunate reality of both captitalism and a horrible lack of education and compassion in many areas of the world. This IS one of the worst things I”ve ever seen, and how a worker would be willing to do this to a innocent animal is beyond belief. If the world was based on a resource economy where everyone had basic needs met instead of having to ‘work’ into a system to keep your head above water, you would then start to see problems like this and many others go completely away eventually. Man learns bad habits for varoius reasons , and unless intervention happens, future generations will run amok with the lies its been taught ; that people must be killled for military objectives and animals for food ( and sadly fur). I am not making a excuse on any level, I find this as disgusting and hurtful as everyone as does I assure you, as I was raised to love animals too and I do,- I am just saying education is key here, and of course International pressure from all sides,but sometimes money gets in the way, and there is only one way of fixing that.
I am a vegetarian humanitarian, and its not just these poor creatures being affected, its all dolphins, whales, cattle and any other creature you can think of that suffers on some level at human hands just because we’re too lazy or unwilling through formed habits of childhood to be yet capable of seeing past the horrors that exist in the industries involved in all of this. It’s a mess but its fixable long as we all speak out continually.
My heart and soul goes out to those affected by this fiasco of human disgrace, and I pray to our creator that together we can stop it before too many more innocent animals lose their life so horribly. Write/call your senators, use bumper stickers, make calls, organize events and generally talk about it whenever and whereever you can 🙂
God so said the bird is loved as are we so its clear we do a great deal of harm all the way around when these things happen.
May god bless us everyone and give swift comfort.
I didn’t have the heart to watch the video. However, this is a horrific topic that should be brought to the attention of every person who has ever bought clothes that have fur or fake fur on them. The fashion statement still looks like fur.
I facebooked this link. Hope you don’t mind =3
I do not judge what you do not understand, because it may be that images, which I find so abhorrent as having a
different meaning for farmers.
seems so evil, does not imply that it is.
I am not knowledgeable on how farmers understand their acts.
would better understand the Chinese farmers, rather than make judgments of our own culture.
I don’t think that this should go on for much longer. We do have a better and a more empathetic upbringing than the people who are murdering mercessly these beautiful animals! I have to do something, but what? I need to get a petition together, so please email me A.S.A.P.to get something done to stop this. I do have the Ambassador’s address in Ottawa, and the Consulate General of China in BC. So let’s get together and get alot of signatures to send to these people who will hopefully do something.
Thanks, Eileen
Its a simple matter of Supply and Demand. As long as there is demand for fur and profit in this trade, animals will continue to suffer. We cannot blame China alone, American Models and super stars popularize fur and set fashion trends. This years fashion week in NYC saw a reemergence of fur in the fashion industry. So if you stop buying fur/fur products, this cruel industry will die out. Same goes for Factory farms and Circus and Sea-world and Zoos.
I think each one of us bears responsibility.
something has to be done about this, it is absolutely sickening! What can we do?
Very well put, Michelle. I am an avid animal lover and a supporter of animal rights. I really didn’t have the heart to watch the video after reading the gory description. After reading the post, I felt like the biggest mistake that god ever made was the creation of ‘human beings’.
Like most countries that trade with China ,our governments don’t want to rock the boat and upset our trading with them regardless of their depravity,to these poor animals ,I think perhaps we all should be bombarding our respective Ministers for trade etc.and make them realise we have had enough of this primitive ,barbaric treatment by one of our trading partners,also of course ,the Chinese government,make them realise we don’t want their animal fur.
I dont think i could skin an animal alive. Ever. I’ve skun dead ones, but only those that died alongside the road. Geez… I cant image what it must be like to have to your skin missing… This is one of the only cases where killing it would be MORE humane…
please stop violence against animals
I hope these people, who have done it, one day will be die with this torture, skinning alive.
I have seen these videos. It has changed my life.
this is one of the saddest things I’ve seen. I cant get the images out of my head. Id like to skin the ppl alive that do this and cover them in salt.
😦
I have been thinking about this topic the past few days. I really find it horrible that people have the lack of heart to be able to kill any kind of animal like that. When the live but skinned raccoon dog looked up into the camera, it sent chills down my spine and just thinking about it makes me light headed and teary-eyed. I know people are more sympathetic towards furry animals than reptiles but they deserve attention as well.. No animal should have to go through this at the hands of a human being. When u think about this entire topic, you find out it that it is not the fault of the workers. Im sure most of these workers need to feed their family and would agree that their job is horrible ( at least some would think that ). It all comes down to greedy business owners and corrupt systems that only care about money and nothing else. Just thinking about this makes me question life itself. I am almost embarrassed to be a human after seeing not only this but other completely horrible things such as wars and racism. Why do things have to be the way they are. Its not even the death of the animals that is the worst part. It is the fact that these animals are raised their entire lives usually lasting up to a year or 2 in a small cage with bad conditions, JUST TO BE KILLED FOR FUR… FUR…. REALLY THEIR FUR!!!!??? why the hell cant we resort to synthetics, or at least good living conditions and humane deaths such as euthanization for the poor animals. Just this entire topic has ruined my otherwise amazing week and changed my train of thought about life itself. I cannot focus on school because i find myself thinking about this all the time and i am losing sleep over this. I am only 16 and i have enough stress in my life on top of this abomination. As i sit next to my pet Dog i wonder how somewhere in the world or even in my own country people are doing this to animals just like my dog… the real thing that is driving me insane is that i know i will most likely not make change because i am just 1 / 7,000,000,000 of the people on this planet.. People are so dumb sometimes and should open their eyes.I respect those who are compassionate towards nature like myself and i wish everyone on this forum good luck in life as seeing that we are surrounded by complete morons and heartless fools.
Our world is disgusting…we will all watch this get caught up in this disgusting act then put it to the backs of our heads because we all feel like we can not make a difference. The truth is this will never stop. Money and greed.. that’s all we are now
Should (and how can?…) people capable of committing atrocities of the kind (and scale) often witnessed in China and other Asian countries, involving defenseless animals this time, whether in ‘fur-farms’, ‘bear-bile farms’ or simply on the street with mere kids enjoying skinning animals alive (there have been videos…) be allowed at negotiating tables discussing world issues? Their ignorance – or is it arrogant unwillingness – represents a threat to any form of civilization. To the point it makes one wonder whether they actually belong to the same planet. Leaving them out until they clean up their act would make more sense; whilst applying economic sanctions, fines and open criticism until they stop. A tall order as maybe, but a necessary one. Unless we want to continue condoning horror, cynicism, brutality, messing with the planet and climate, wars and hatred as ‘being part of it all’… In the West, at least, the Middle Ages are supposed to be over. And there is nothing wrong with a notion of international compassion.
Makes me very sad to think that this article got (on average) 2 comments per month since posting. I’ve been to fashion sites that got countless comments within hours of posting. Just goes to show how the vanity of humans has undermined and overshadowed many issues that deserve our immediate attention. I worry for our future generations. Hopefully we can educate our children to care about real issues and prevent future attrocities to these members of our world. In the meantime, bravo to those who really take any action in this fight against unspeakable cruelty. The sick feeling we get when seeing this kind of madness should motivate, not paralyze us.
Just recently I found this video on my facebook, ironically I happen to have a massive love for animals and have a very weak stomach! Of course I knew what the film was about to reveal but I did not realise just how brutal the footage was going to be. I got to about 5 seconds (the man crashing, what looks like a raccoon dog, to the floor) – note I had my hand over my face the whole time – (like what you do if your watching a horror movie) because it was so devistatingly horrific. I couldnt watch anymore, that was a very long while ago and still to this day that image still haunts me.
However I do feel very hypocritical and wrong for not forcing myself into watching it, I also take this approach to any video tributed to all sorts of animal abuse including that of live skinning and killing animals for human food. I am not a vegetarien, I cannot watch nor think about the torture animals go through in some farm killing methods, nor can I think about the disgustingly harsh conditions they are kept in before they are killed for human food, yet I still eat them. My point being, If fur was not a huge fashion statement and there wasnt such a demanding want for fur then maybe this could stop! I praise any person who is motivated enough to try and put a stop to such cruel, unconceivable acts!
When i read this article, i really ask myself am i a human really? i am a human but how can it be? if i am a human then i did that to the racoon dog? i should be ashamed to be a human.US HUMANS r suppose to love the animals and what the hell they skinned the animal alive if any of the human skins another human alive then what will we do we will raise our voice up and the convict will be arrested but why can we raise our voice against what is happening to the racoon.just because its an animal well shame on us we are bad i think we are the worst creation of god.raise your voice folks prevent that animal.we dont need fur and what can we do with that fur nothing.we can never look beautiful with that fur because the fur only shows the beauty of the animal to whom it belongs.i live in Pakistan.our nation wants justice and we are also raising our voices to get rid of the rule of the cruel politics.and thank god he helped us.so why are we not raising our voice.prevent the racoon dog folks and stop the cruel behavior done to the racoon i beg you guys please help the racoon.i pray to god may all those who shaved the racoon dog alive gat a curse and may on judgemant day god punihes then so bad and worst more than the cruelty which they did to the racoon dog.thanx im midhat naqvi from pakistan and please pay attention to my message
This is really SAD and very bad what happend to the nice Animals.
I know also lot of Phillippinos they say : they are so human and catolic, but to the animals they are LIKE THE CHINESE in this video.
I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Somebody have to stop it
Lucrezia
No words its horrible. Science is not far off to put matter, energy and consciousness all into one category. The pain we are subjecting the animals into will certainly bounce back to us.Atleast in equal intensity in form of human miseries. One step ahead, my religion believes that the same souls who are part of this cruelity from the person who actually skins to a person who uses such furs will one day taste the pain in form of (taking birth) of the same animal to be skinned like wise. it is a pity that despite so intelligient humans always neglect the fact that all the pains and sufferings around us are only inside a system we are living in and it does not go outside. it reverebates and reflects back to us.
I swear, all the great religions like Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism teach compassion towards animals. Who listens??
I had second thoughts about what I eat, buy and use a few days ago when I saw images of animals skinned alive. I am on my way to discarding any leather or fur I am in possession of. I am also strongly considering going vegan.
I just saw this video and its truly gut wrenching. I would like to know of some action I could take to get these animals out of their cages and helped. I look at my dog and know he is a truly lucky being for not having to suffer like so many others. Those who have suffered on earth will rule the afterlife
[…] dog and a gut wrenching account of how they are skinned alive, here’s a report from the Animal Blawg. I could not watch the video. The corporations who import and market and sell garments to us shrug […]
God sees everything. The video is only a portion of what God has seen and is seeing now. There is no heaven, [on earth or in death], for these killers, nor in my heart for them. Only in prayer, can we end this. Only by skinning dead, properly killed animals is fur ‘proper’. If not, the fur is rightfully so, called ‘bad’. So, all we can do is all we can do. God help us all to pray, be strong, better understand how we CLOTHE ourselves, lest our disgusting ignorance render us naked in our disgusting, human, flaws.
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I am really gob smacked on reality of the minds of mentally disturbed people that can do this. I am speaking and shearing with you my thoughts from new zealand. A month ago I just signed a petition and got others to sign it as. Showed a video to them they were shocked. Some were crying. And for that i got heaps of signitures shocking. And forwarded that to China presidency to have animals band from being used for food consumption for humans over there. We got a little result but not to much. But when activist got on my side. The response was amazing it air on TV. The whole world was watching. When I thought there was no hope in new zealand for these animals in china. Activist blow my mind. My chinesse friend told me to check the video out on U tube he just posted in July. Activist today are still doing good work today. Some animals will see Xmas this year. To date 2,300 trucks haven’t made it to restaurants or the yulan markets. 2 or 3 have slept away compared to 2,300 good results. And it’s open the eye’s of the chinesse goverment. Who have put in law the movement of transporting trucks. Transporting animals now. China’s activist have now legal documents to stop transporting animals if truckies don’t meet legal requirements. Activist have the right to convenscate trucks and animals.which indespite they do anyway to save them. Like that. And all and all I have 8 of those dogs in new zealand in my back yard in dog kennels. They are warm. Under covers. Eating. When I first got them. They were scared shaking. Now they are happy with additutes. They have a bath twice a week. I have someone come over and bath them. Even she said they’ve got an additute. Lol. I had someone teach them the English language and obi deny. And the list goes on but results came out of it. Please support my chinesse activist pushing there good work forward. Google. Chinesse activist in china watch the video on U tube it’s owsume. My friend is behind the camera videotaping the whole situation it bring tie’s of joy. Kahu1nz native new zealand helping china activist.
After watching a video someone posted on Facebook about a week ago, I have not stopped thinking about those animals being skinned alive, screaming in absolute agony, and I have not stopped reading about the Chinese and their torture farms. Watching that video did something to me, I feel that to actually took something from me that I don’t know can ever be replaced. As I tyle this my beautiful Innocent puppy chews one of his toy while sitting on my feet. The thought of one of these monsters laying their disgusting hands one him sparks a rage in me that makes me want to do nothing short of the same thing to them! Hang them via steel hooks through their feet, smear crazy glue along with something very strong that can be pulled, wait for it to dry. And offer them one last word before they feel what hell on earth really is. That would be justice! and only then with they know what it truly feels like to be at the helpless mercy of someone elses sick sadistic torture. And I don’t think I’d loss a wink of sleep over it.