Animal welfare group Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has released a new survey of the LVMH supply chain that uncovered the cruel treatment of animals used in some of the brand’s luxury products.
Treatment of snakes is “inhumane and unacceptable”
Python beating is particularly tough: The Asian branch of the animal welfare organization published recordings of two Indonesian slaughterhouses of the luxury corporation, in which several workers were filmed as they stunned live snakes with hammers and then probably skinned them while they were still alive.
Not only that, the disturbing video also shows the snakes being hung up and filled with water to stretch their skin. According to Dr. Clifford Warrick, a reptile expert who reviewed the recordings, said this method is “inhumane and unacceptable” by international standards.
Nothing has improved on ostrich farms
In 2016, LVMH was targeted by PETA with an investigation into crocodile and ostrich farms, which are considered to be suppliers to the fashion house. The footage obtained by the organization revealed appalling animal husbandry conditions and cruel slaughter methods.
Five years later, things are no better – Peta USA recently received footage of ostriches showing that they are kept in barren, filthy camps for about a year before being sent for slaughter. In the slaughterhouse, they are forcibly tied up, electrically anesthetized and turned upside down before their throats are cut in front of their peers.
Crocodiles also suffer
Snakes and ostriches aren’t the only animals to suffer for products from the luxury company, which includes brands like Celine, Louis Vuitton and Dior. A study by Peta Asia of crocodile farms in Vietnam that supplied skins to the company revealed thousands of reptiles lying motionless in dirty, narrow concrete pits, some of which are narrower than their own body length.
The organization therefore urges LVMH to immediately stop selling exotic hides: “Instead of exploring lush jungles and swamps and experiencing all the sensual pleasures to which they are so susceptible, the animals in LVMH’s supply chain are abused and tortured just to Making handbags and shoes, ”says Peta’s expose.
With these practices, LVMH is taking action against its own code of conduct, which also applies to suppliers. It says under “Environmental regulations and environmental protection” that they must adhere to the “implementation of best practices in the entire supply chain in favor of animal welfare” or, in a separate point, that they also comply with the “implementation of measures to protect biodiversity” and have to be able to prove.