Video: On This Fur Farm, Starved Animals Resort to Cannibalism for Survival
Disturbing footage has been released of a Russian fur farm informally labeled by media outlets as “Auschwitz for animals” after thousands of animals were found dead from starvation and malnutrition.
Roughly 2,500 minks have been found dead since October 1 at this fur farm in Karelia, Russia, which breeds foxes and mink for slaughter. Other reports claim that 1,500 minks died in just three days, while the surviving animals were forced to eat their cage mates out of desperation. In the video, piles of bags containing carcasses can be seen and a worker holds up what appears to be the remains of half-eaten animals.
A farm worker reportedly stated that the “[m]inks live here in pairs. If one of them dies, then the other eats it. Foxes are also eating each other.”
Social media users have been so disturbed by the images that they’ve referred to the farm as a concentration camp for animals.
In the video, minks and foxes can be seen hysterically fidgeting and thrashing about inside cramped, dilapidated cages. This behavior is a blatant sign of “zoochosis,” a disturbing psychological condition that often affects captive animals.
Because of a cash shortage, the animals have been fed only a fraction of what they need to survive, and the majority of workers have left the facility because of unpaid wages, which means that fewer hands are attending to these animals already in dire need.
The animals are so sickly and physically deteriorated that the remaining 10,000 minks and 2,700 foxes are considered to be in too poor condition to create valuable pelts from. It’s unknown what will happen to them, but if the current atmosphere of cannibalism and starvation are any indication, we can assume only the worst.
This horrific story is hardly an isolated incident. Death, neglect, and insufferable agony is how fur farms operate.
For years, PETA eyewitnesses have revealed the torture and neglect that these animals endure. On many fur farms, they experience painful seizures after being electrocuted or their necks are broken while they’re still conscious. On one farm in Vista, California—which PETA helped shut down—one of the owners admitted to splinting broken bones herself as well as to amputating limbs using wire snips and six drops of brandy.
Let’s End Fur Farming Everywhere
Join PETA in protecting minks and other animals who are killed for their fur. Never support a company that chooses to sell animal parts as fashion items. In the 21st century, cruelty is a choice, and no animal deserves to be mutilated and dismembered for human vanity.
Share this story, and encourage everyone you know to choose only animal-friendly clothing.
