The Fur Farms of China- by: Kayla

The Fur Farms of China

By: Kayla Peters

No matter where you go in the world, animals are always being abused. However, nothing seems as horrific as what happens in the fur farms of China.  China provides over 60% of the world’s fur from animals such as raccoon dogs, black, red and grey foxes, stray cats and dogs and other typical “fur” species. There is no labeling system for fur in China so when a coat says “fox fur produced in China,” it is very seldom true. The coat could be cat, dog, raccoon or fox without any way to tell for certain. Since there is a huge stray dog problem is Asian countries, often the solution to reduce the population of stray dogs is to catch them for either food or fur.

With each farm holding two hundred to three hundred animals, the animals are subjected to very poor care during their lifetimes and during their deaths. The average cost to raise an animal for fur is $45CAD yet the average pelt (fur of the animal) is sold for $89CAD. Chinese claim that since the cost to raise the animal is so high and the selling prise so low, they cannot afford humane methods of slaughter for the animals.

In the fur farms there are only a handful of “lucky” animals. These “lucky” animals slaughtered by a method called anal probing. In this method, one metal rode is inserted to the animal’s anus while another is forced down the animal’s throat. The animal is then electrocuted until death. This method is considered one of the more humane options but is costly so it is barely used.

The rest of the animals go through a much more painful event. This method includes beating the animal’s head with a hard object such as a metal rod, stick, brick, foot or by picking the animal by the hind legs and slamming him or her to the floor. The object of this is to kill the animal but the majority of the time, the animal survives this with only a head injury. The animal is then tied up from their hind legs and they are skinned alive. The skin is cut around the legs and the person skinning the animal will use their body weight to pull the skin off from their feet to their head. Once the skin is removed, the body of the skinless animal is thrown into a pile, like garbage. What makes this practice so terrifying is not the fact that 90% of the animals are skinned while still conscious; it is that they will survive for 5-10 minutes after being skinned, eventually dying from heart failure or suffocation from the other bodies being piled on top of them.

Raccoon dog still alive after skinning

Many wonder how this practice is still allowed, why there are now laws or regulations surrounding animal welfare. In China, there are very few laws regarding animal welfare, and when the animal is in a fur farm, there are none. One of China’s only laws is the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, also called the Wildlife Protection Law (WPL). In this law, it states that any wildlife is considered to be a natural resource and shall be used as such. Since fur farmer make more money than most Chinese citizens, they bring in a lot of money for the towns that they are situated in, therefore fur farming is promoted and fur farmers are considered to be heroes. Fur farms can also employ up to 50% of an average farming village population either directly or indirectly.

It seems as though nothing will change the situation in China regarding the fur industry and that there is very little hope for animal activists or the animals themselves but it has only been in the past few years that this issue has been brought to light. With more light being brought to the issue, less people will find fur products attractive which will decrease the market for fur and eventually save the lives of thousands of innocent animals.  

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Blake, M. (2013, November 25). Chinese "fox farms. Daily mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2513288/Chinese-Fox-Farms-animals-clubbed-death-skinned-fur-trade.html