“Skinned Alive – Let the Animals Stay Beautiful Alive”
Listen to the “Skinned Alive” music-to-become-a-hit-for-the-animals this winter, a song dedicated to all the victims of the fur industry and of those supporting it, calling everyone who cares about fur bearing animals (and all others) to act in their defense. A beautiful song which will be a success, accompanied by strong footage captured inside Portugal´s rabbit fur farms, in the recent investigation carried by ANIMAL into Portugal´s fur trade. © All Rights Reserved to ANIMAL (footage) and to the International Anti-Fur Coalition (song). Lead Vocals: Yael Dekelbaum, Backing Vocals: Noa lembarski, Words by Shiri Shemer & Jane Halevy, and Composition/Arrangement by Elad Elharar and Haim Kairy. (4 minutes)



From: ANIMAL Portugal EU miguel.moutinho@animal.org.pt
 Date: December 9, 2006

Special Investigation Uncovers Hell in Rabbit Fur Farms in Portugal

Special Investigation Uncovers Hell
in Rabbit Fur Farms in Portugal

Portuguese animal protection group ANIMAL goes inside Portugal´s rabbit fur trade to expose the violence endured by the real “fashion victims” :: Rabbit pelts produced in Portugal are sent to China, via Spain, and come back to the EU
 
In late October, investigators with the Portuguese animal protection group ANIMAL went inside the Portugal´s rabbit fur trade, for the first time gaining access to places and information and talking to key agents of this trade, using covert cameras and different front covers to capture graphic evidence to show to the public who are the real “fashion victims” this winter.
 
Various rabbit farms and slaughterhouses in different regions of Portugal have been visited by the investigators, who soon became aware of how secretive is the fur production circle in Portugal. Investigators were also able to understand how profitable the rabbit fur business really is and how it is disguised under the rabbit meat trade.
 
Scared rabbits caged in miserable conditions are sent to slaughter being only 6 weeks old – or 3 to 5 months old, if bred just for their fur –,  the huge mortality of rabbits dying due to the extremely poor conditions in which they are kept and treated, rough artificial insemination, the violent handling when loading the animals, and the slaughter without proper stunning, with the rabbits still conscious when having their throats slit. This is, in general, what the investigators witnessed, filmed and documented in a video and its respective report, “The Real Fashion Victims”, that ANIMAL is publicly releasing today.
 
Key agents in the Portuguese rabbit fur production have told to ANIMAL´s investigators that the rabbits are bred and killed in Portugal, then sent to Spain to be more cheaply sent from there to China, where the pelts are be very cheaply treated, and then sent back to the EU, both to supply the Portuguese rabbit fur market, but also to countries such as Italy, France, Germany and the UK.
 
This investigation also reveals how “special” rabbit breeds, like Chinchilla Rex rabbits, are bred in Portugal to be sold just for their fur, many times being sold as genuine Chinchilla fur due to the similarity of their furs, as, according to what was explained to the investigators, only experts in fur would be able to distinguish, after treated, the Chinchilla Rex rabbit fur from the Chinchilla fur. The profit, here, is much higher, as rabbits have many more babies per year and are easier and cheaper to breed and keep than Chinchillas.
 
Miguel Moutinho, ANIMAL´s President, said “This investigation is of extreme importance, not only because it allows us to highlight the extreme suffering that rabbits go through to be turned into fur clothing and fur trim for big fashion houses and many fashion chains, but also to clarify that rabbit fur is not a by-product of rabbit meat, as the public demand for rabbit fur is huge, in Portugal and Europe, and all over the world, especially with the disastrous recent return of fur as a trend, and as it is a very profitable business, including that of farming and killing Chinchilla Rex rabbits and other “special” rabbit breeds just for their fur”.
 
The Portuguese governmental and veterinarian authorities have stated, on October 12th (litlle time before this investigation started), that these officials “do not know of any breeding and/or slaughter facilities of animals for the extraction and use of their fur, and there are no legal regulations for such facilities.” This investigation proves, on the one hand, that the Government has no control whatsoever over this trade, and, on the other hand, it shows that these high officials are not even aware that there are two different laws applicable to animals bred for their fur, regulating how, in general, they should be kept, and, specifically, how they should be killed.
 
ANIMAL hopes that this investigation will help its campaign to achieve a ban on fur farming in Portugal and that it may lead to a drastic intervention by the Government in this secret trade that it has been unaware of, until now.
 
ANIMAL has also traced a Chinchilla fur farming scheme operated in Portugal by a company, Exporpele, which deals in both Chinchilla Rex rabbit fur and Chinchilla fur, and which hires people to breed Chinchillas in a big net of domestic farms, which are then killed and bought back by Exporpele, which then gets the pelts into the fur markets – again to many European countries.
 
The video “The Real Fashion Victims” is available online at TVANIMAL.org (in English and in Portuguese), accompanied by the report and pictures that resulted from this special investigation.
 
ANIMAL has partnered, in the USA, with the Anti-Fur Society and RabbitWise: Rabbit Advocates USA, and, in France, with Fourrure Torture, to expose this trade internationally – today, the outcome of this investigation has been release in Portugal, in France and in the USA. This marks the beginning of a new campaign against fur in Portugal.
 
 
 

“This winter, ask yourself: Who are the Real Fashion Victims?” :: TVANIMAL.org :: Exposing Animal Abuse :: Please support our work for the animals
 
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