Click to view larger image
|
 |
Why is wearing exotic skins so behind the times? The majority of alligator and crocodile skins used to make clothes and accessories come from factory farms, where animals are kept on concrete slabs in filthy, half-sunken sheds, surrounded by filthy, stagnant water. Killing methods are outrageous and cruel: Crocodiles are often impaled on huge hooks and reeled in only when they drown or become weakened from blood loss. A PETA undercover investigator at Gator Jungle in Florida, a major supplier of exotic skins in the U.S., documented workers who were smashing animals over the head with aluminum baseball bats and cutting through their spinal cords with steel chisels and hammers. Some alligators remained conscious and in agony for up to two hours. In Louisiana alone, tens of thousands of alligators are raised by alligator farmers, and some 33,000 wild alligators are caught by trappers each year.
Other animals fare no better: In Asia, Africa, and South America, pythons, lizards, and other reptiles are often torn away from their tropical homes, skinned alive, and left to suffer for hours–sometimes days–before they die.
Every pair of leather shoes that you buy is a death sentence for animals, whether they are cows, pigs, goats, sheep, or exotic animals like alligators, ostriches, or kangaroos. Even dogs and cats, who are slaughtered for their meat in China, also suffer and die at the hands of the leather industry. Since leather is rarely labeled, you never really know where (or whom) it came from.
With hundreds of styles of nonleather shoes, clothing, belts, bags, and wallets available, it's easy to leave the hides behind. For tips on finding mock croc, fake snake, and other alternatives to exotic skins, check out PETA's
free "Guide to Compassionate Clothing."
For more information, visit
CowsAreCool.com and
FurIsDead.com.
|
 |
|
|
