Pythons
are the latest victims of fashion's new obsession
If you have ever considered adding a Hermes crocodile-skin bag or a pair of
Alexander McQueen snakeskin pumps to your wardrobe, we hope that the following page will make
you think again.
Alexander McQueen snakeskin pumps to your wardrobe, we hope that the following page will make
you think again.
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Snakeskin has become the latest must-have and designer labels including Jimmy Choo, Donna Karan, Mulberry, Gucci, Prada, Roberto Cavalli and Yves Saint Laurent have all used it in coats, bags and boots.
Celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, who was recently photographed with a python skin handbag, and Sienna Miller, seen in snakeskin boots, are encouraging an illicit trade that can have terrible consequences for fragile eco-systems around the world.
Python shoes, boots, belts, jackets and skirts are being fashioned from snakes’ skin.
The fashion industry insists the skins are farmed (as if this is less cruel) but this is completely untrue. There is a thriving illegal trade in South-East Asia and South America.
The regional program officer in South-East Asia for Traffic, an international monitoring network says” "I have been to visit dozens of so-called python 'farms' but only one of them was breeding pythons. The rest were using the farms as a cover for pythons caught in the wild."
South East Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, China and Vietnam claim to farm snakes. But trade watchers say that there cannot be any snake farms because pythons take too long to mature and are too expensive to rear in captivity.
These farms simply pay villagers per snake they catch from the wild. The myth that villagers grow snakes and depend on them for their livelihood is also untrue as they are paid so little per snake that farming is not a viable option.
Unfortunately, while governments know that the snake farms are a myth, they allow these snake skins to be “ legal”. More than 350,000 skins of the reticulated python species were legally imported into the EU in 2005 and this has increased in the next three years. There is no record of snake farms raising so many adult snakes a year. The illegal trade is at least that large. Which proves that over 1 million snakes have been caught in the wild yearly for Europe and America. 1985 to 1998, the last year for which data are available from that country, Indonesia exported more than 4.5 million pythons, either skinned or alive.
Snakes are caught in the wild at 3-4 years old in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines. They are sent to the manufacturing markets of the U.S., EU, Canada and China.
This fashion trend is disastrous for one of the world's longest, most magnificent and least threatening snakes. It is already resulting in plagues of rats (their prey) in South-East Asia.
To convert pythons into profits, Indonesia's snake-harvesting industry relies on an army of catchers who work in groups in the jungles and grassland, settings nets, traps and baited hooks for the blood pythons and the larger reticulated pythons. Captured snakes are stored in canvas bags and sold to primitive skinning plants. In Indonesia alone the industry employs about 175,000 people of which 150,000 are snake catchers – which proves that that “farmed” snakes are a myth. The rest are skinners and international sales agents, according to the Indonesian Reptile and Amphibian Trade Association, which represents licensed tanneries and reptile-product exporters.
It is illegal to catch, kill or trade in snakes in India since the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972. Till then the Irula tribe caught and skinned thousands of cobras yearly and sold them. There is still a strong trade in snake skins which go via Nepal to China.
Many people claim that they are wearing/using the moulted skin of the snake and no creature was killed. This is a lie spread by the industry. The snake moults its skin several times during its life. Just before shedding, the skin becomes dull and dry looking. The inner surface of the old outer skin liquefies. This causes the old outer skin to separate from the new inner skin. After a few days, the snake crawls out of its old skin by rubbing it against rough surfaces. Moulted skin is too dull, dry and thin to be turned into anything. Snakes must die for their skins.
The two most popular kinds of python used in the fashion industry are the browny-orange "python curtus" and the grey-and-white "python reticulatus”. However every kind of snake is used - sea water, fresh water, cobras, ratsnakes, kraits, anacondas and pythons.
Small snakes are impaled on hooks or a nail is hammered through their heads into a tree, to skin them alive by making a small incision under the head and a long slice all the way down its stomach. The skin is grabbed from the top and peeled away in one piece. Once skinned, snakes are left to die, which can take 2–3 days.
Larger snakes like pythons have hosepipes forced into their mouths and are blown up with water while they are still alive to loosen the skin. They are also skinned alive and left to die which can take 2-3 days.
The EU, is the world's biggest importer of snake skins. Between 2000 and 2005 it is estimated that 3.4 million snake skins were brought into the EU. Italy is the largest consumer in the world making shoes, bags, belts, and wallets made from reptile skin. Germany is the second largest producer, followed by France. The United States accounts for about 50% of the Italian export market for finished goods; Japan, 35%; the remaining 15% goes to other European markets. A scrub python can be sold for as much as $10,000. The United States alone imports finished products made from reptile skins worth about $257 million a year.
The Vietnam government in 1998 stopped the sale of snakes to China, as this had caused an endemic rise in the rat population However, snake catching villages continue to exist and are in fact major tourist attractions in Vietnam. Strangely enough, while catching snakes is illegal here, there are two villages in Faridabad and Delhi which are snake catcher villagers and entertain tourists. One of them is opposite the airport!
Wildlife trade, which includes trading of Reptile Skins is regulated globally by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Regulation set by CITES are implemented through countries’ own National laws and Wildlife Regulations. But the bans are sketchy. For instance, in California, python has been banned for 25 years but no similar legislation restricts the use of the skin in Europe or other American states.
The United States and 114 other countries have signed the CITES treaty implementing the ban on reptile skins and furs from “endangered species”, the enforcement of these bans however, is extremely difficult. Only 20 % goods brought into the United States are inspected by the U.S. Customs Service.
There is very little that can be done to enforce CITES. Many countries selectively decide which bans to enforce and which to ignore. For instance Taiwan decided not to join CITES and imports of endangered reptiles continues.
Lack of knowledge on species wildlife is another problem when enforcing these bans. Custom officials often cannot recognize one animal pelt from another and they do not know the laws. In Delhi we have filed a case against an animal importer who was bringing in snakes and turtles from Singapore. They are strictly forbidden to be imported into India – but neither the wildlife department of Delhi nor the customs seemed to know the 30 year rules!
After weapons and drugs, traffic in exotic animals for their skins and meats is the third largest black market in the world. Anyone wearing or buying snakeskin should be shunned by society for endangering the environment and taking part in criminal activity.
Source
Celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, who was recently photographed with a python skin handbag, and Sienna Miller, seen in snakeskin boots, are encouraging an illicit trade that can have terrible consequences for fragile eco-systems around the world.
Python shoes, boots, belts, jackets and skirts are being fashioned from snakes’ skin.
The fashion industry insists the skins are farmed (as if this is less cruel) but this is completely untrue. There is a thriving illegal trade in South-East Asia and South America.
The regional program officer in South-East Asia for Traffic, an international monitoring network says” "I have been to visit dozens of so-called python 'farms' but only one of them was breeding pythons. The rest were using the farms as a cover for pythons caught in the wild."
South East Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, China and Vietnam claim to farm snakes. But trade watchers say that there cannot be any snake farms because pythons take too long to mature and are too expensive to rear in captivity.
These farms simply pay villagers per snake they catch from the wild. The myth that villagers grow snakes and depend on them for their livelihood is also untrue as they are paid so little per snake that farming is not a viable option.
Unfortunately, while governments know that the snake farms are a myth, they allow these snake skins to be “ legal”. More than 350,000 skins of the reticulated python species were legally imported into the EU in 2005 and this has increased in the next three years. There is no record of snake farms raising so many adult snakes a year. The illegal trade is at least that large. Which proves that over 1 million snakes have been caught in the wild yearly for Europe and America. 1985 to 1998, the last year for which data are available from that country, Indonesia exported more than 4.5 million pythons, either skinned or alive.
Snakes are caught in the wild at 3-4 years old in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines. They are sent to the manufacturing markets of the U.S., EU, Canada and China.
This fashion trend is disastrous for one of the world's longest, most magnificent and least threatening snakes. It is already resulting in plagues of rats (their prey) in South-East Asia.
To convert pythons into profits, Indonesia's snake-harvesting industry relies on an army of catchers who work in groups in the jungles and grassland, settings nets, traps and baited hooks for the blood pythons and the larger reticulated pythons. Captured snakes are stored in canvas bags and sold to primitive skinning plants. In Indonesia alone the industry employs about 175,000 people of which 150,000 are snake catchers – which proves that that “farmed” snakes are a myth. The rest are skinners and international sales agents, according to the Indonesian Reptile and Amphibian Trade Association, which represents licensed tanneries and reptile-product exporters.
It is illegal to catch, kill or trade in snakes in India since the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972. Till then the Irula tribe caught and skinned thousands of cobras yearly and sold them. There is still a strong trade in snake skins which go via Nepal to China.
Many people claim that they are wearing/using the moulted skin of the snake and no creature was killed. This is a lie spread by the industry. The snake moults its skin several times during its life. Just before shedding, the skin becomes dull and dry looking. The inner surface of the old outer skin liquefies. This causes the old outer skin to separate from the new inner skin. After a few days, the snake crawls out of its old skin by rubbing it against rough surfaces. Moulted skin is too dull, dry and thin to be turned into anything. Snakes must die for their skins.
The two most popular kinds of python used in the fashion industry are the browny-orange "python curtus" and the grey-and-white "python reticulatus”. However every kind of snake is used - sea water, fresh water, cobras, ratsnakes, kraits, anacondas and pythons.
Small snakes are impaled on hooks or a nail is hammered through their heads into a tree, to skin them alive by making a small incision under the head and a long slice all the way down its stomach. The skin is grabbed from the top and peeled away in one piece. Once skinned, snakes are left to die, which can take 2–3 days.
Larger snakes like pythons have hosepipes forced into their mouths and are blown up with water while they are still alive to loosen the skin. They are also skinned alive and left to die which can take 2-3 days.
The EU, is the world's biggest importer of snake skins. Between 2000 and 2005 it is estimated that 3.4 million snake skins were brought into the EU. Italy is the largest consumer in the world making shoes, bags, belts, and wallets made from reptile skin. Germany is the second largest producer, followed by France. The United States accounts for about 50% of the Italian export market for finished goods; Japan, 35%; the remaining 15% goes to other European markets. A scrub python can be sold for as much as $10,000. The United States alone imports finished products made from reptile skins worth about $257 million a year.
The Vietnam government in 1998 stopped the sale of snakes to China, as this had caused an endemic rise in the rat population However, snake catching villages continue to exist and are in fact major tourist attractions in Vietnam. Strangely enough, while catching snakes is illegal here, there are two villages in Faridabad and Delhi which are snake catcher villagers and entertain tourists. One of them is opposite the airport!
Wildlife trade, which includes trading of Reptile Skins is regulated globally by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Regulation set by CITES are implemented through countries’ own National laws and Wildlife Regulations. But the bans are sketchy. For instance, in California, python has been banned for 25 years but no similar legislation restricts the use of the skin in Europe or other American states.
The United States and 114 other countries have signed the CITES treaty implementing the ban on reptile skins and furs from “endangered species”, the enforcement of these bans however, is extremely difficult. Only 20 % goods brought into the United States are inspected by the U.S. Customs Service.
There is very little that can be done to enforce CITES. Many countries selectively decide which bans to enforce and which to ignore. For instance Taiwan decided not to join CITES and imports of endangered reptiles continues.
Lack of knowledge on species wildlife is another problem when enforcing these bans. Custom officials often cannot recognize one animal pelt from another and they do not know the laws. In Delhi we have filed a case against an animal importer who was bringing in snakes and turtles from Singapore. They are strictly forbidden to be imported into India – but neither the wildlife department of Delhi nor the customs seemed to know the 30 year rules!
After weapons and drugs, traffic in exotic animals for their skins and meats is the third largest black market in the world. Anyone wearing or buying snakeskin should be shunned by society for endangering the environment and taking part in criminal activity.
Source
Christian Louboutin Python Leather Boots
Louis Vuitton
Jeffrey Campbell Python Leather Longboots
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Yves Saint Laurent Python Leather Pumps
Gucci Iman Platform Python Leather Sandal
Alexander McQueen Python Highheel
Jimmy Choo
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Items made from exotic skins come with a high price – and that it's paid by the animals who are torn away from their jungle homes and cruelly killed. Every year, millions of snakes, alligators, lizards and crocodiles are killed for heartless fashions. Even if you don't think snakes and lizards are cute, please remember that they feel pain and fear just as any animal does.
Snakes killed for their skin are often nailed to trees and skinned alive before being tossed into a pile to die. They can suffer for days before succumbing to shock or dehydration. Pythons often have a hose inserted into their mouth and are pumped full of water to make them easier to skin. As a PETA US investigation revealed, alligators on farms are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. With tons of fashionable and cruelty-free alternatives such as fake snake and mock croc available, there is no reason for animals to suffer for your wardrobe.
Snakes killed for their skin are often nailed to trees and skinned alive before being tossed into a pile to die. They can suffer for days before succumbing to shock or dehydration. Pythons often have a hose inserted into their mouth and are pumped full of water to make them easier to skin. As a PETA US investigation revealed, alligators on farms are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. With tons of fashionable and cruelty-free alternatives such as fake snake and mock croc available, there is no reason for animals to suffer for your wardrobe.
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Whether your bag, shoe, or jacket was made from exotic skins or sexy synthetics means the difference between life or death for animals. Snakes and alligators who are stripped of their skin are usually caught in the wild, often illegally, and their skin is ripped from their bodies while they are still alive. Because they are cold-blooded animals, they can suffer for hours or even days before they die.
If you need more proof that reptiles suffer when they are exploited for fashion, watch the next video.
If you need more proof that reptiles suffer when they are exploited for fashion, watch the next video.
Pythons are stunned, filled up with water,
skinned alive and left to die in agony!
Pythons skinned alive and left to die in agony. Alligators killed with hammers and chisels. This is the truly shocking reality behind fashion's shameful new obsession!
At a slaughterhouse, deep in the Javanese jungle, blood-stained hands untie a wriggling sack and pull out a ten-foot long python.
The snake is stunned with a blow to the head from the back of a machete and a hose pipe expertly forced between its jaws. Next, the water is turned on and the reptile fills up ? swelling like a balloon.
It will be left like that for ten minutes or so, a leather cord tied around its neck to prevent the liquid escaping.
Then its head is impaled on a meat hook, a couple of quick incisions follow, and the now-loosened skin peeled off with a series of brutal tugs - much like a rubber glove from a hand.
From there the skin will be sent to a tannery before being turned into luxury shoes or handbags. Finally, they will be snapped up by an army of pampered Western fashionistas desperate for the latest look and happy to pay thousands of pounds to get it.
Meanwhile, back in Indonesia, the python's peeled body is simply tossed on a pile of similarly stripped snakes. After a day or two of unimaginable agony it will die from the effects of shock or dehydration.
Barbaric, cruel, stomach turning - those are just a few of the words used by those who have witnessed snakes being skinned alive. But in Europe, the mention of reptile skin - be it snake, lizard, alligator or crocodile - draws a very different response and a very different vocabulary.
'Exotic skins are hot right now, there's a real buzz,' enthuses designer Roberto Cavalli, who has dressed Kate Moss to Sharon Stone.
'I love to use reptile skins because it excites me to take material that is seen as "wild" and mix it with a look that shouts glamour and sophistication.'
Sad to say, Cavalli is not alone in the fashion world in his attitude to the latest must-have 'fabric'. The European Union is the world's biggest importer of reptile skins.
The snake is stunned with a blow to the head from the back of a machete and a hose pipe expertly forced between its jaws. Next, the water is turned on and the reptile fills up ? swelling like a balloon.
It will be left like that for ten minutes or so, a leather cord tied around its neck to prevent the liquid escaping.
Then its head is impaled on a meat hook, a couple of quick incisions follow, and the now-loosened skin peeled off with a series of brutal tugs - much like a rubber glove from a hand.
From there the skin will be sent to a tannery before being turned into luxury shoes or handbags. Finally, they will be snapped up by an army of pampered Western fashionistas desperate for the latest look and happy to pay thousands of pounds to get it.
Meanwhile, back in Indonesia, the python's peeled body is simply tossed on a pile of similarly stripped snakes. After a day or two of unimaginable agony it will die from the effects of shock or dehydration.
Barbaric, cruel, stomach turning - those are just a few of the words used by those who have witnessed snakes being skinned alive. But in Europe, the mention of reptile skin - be it snake, lizard, alligator or crocodile - draws a very different response and a very different vocabulary.
'Exotic skins are hot right now, there's a real buzz,' enthuses designer Roberto Cavalli, who has dressed Kate Moss to Sharon Stone.
'I love to use reptile skins because it excites me to take material that is seen as "wild" and mix it with a look that shouts glamour and sophistication.'
Sad to say, Cavalli is not alone in the fashion world in his attitude to the latest must-have 'fabric'. The European Union is the world's biggest importer of reptile skins.
Between 2000 and 2005, it is estimated that 3.4 million lizard, 2.9 million crocodile and 3.4 million snake skins were brought into the EU.
And this year, like never before, skin is most certainly 'in'. Indeed, the hottest fashion debate in town is not about the ethics of the trade - but whether to opt for python or anaconda.
Take, for example, Jimmy Choo, makers of shoes and bags. The high-end fashion house's £1,695 Rio clutch handbag is available in the skins of either of the above.
Or what about treading in Sienna Miller's fashion footsteps with a pair of python-skin boots by the American designer Devi Kroell? Yours for just a shade under £1,000. Something else? Try Calvin Klein's alligator jackets, Celine's white python skirt or a metallic python bag by Zagliani - injected with silicone for an ultra-soft feel.
Jennifer Lopez has been spotted out and about sporting the Zag-bag while Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria's passion for a giant £1,300 python bag by Prada saw websites inundated with drooling postings from envious fashion-watchers.
'Wow will you look at that!!!,' wrote one such contributor. 'You get a lotta python for your money. It's beautiful!' But, as environmentalists are only too quick to point out, it looks a whole lot more beautiful on the snake.
On the banks of the River Arno there's an Italian town whose motto goes as follows: 'Always make sure people walk on Santa Croce shoes and dress in Santa Croce skins'.
As the saying implies, Santa Croce has been the home of the Italian tanning industry for centuries. But, while it has traditionally specialised in treating hides from cattle and sheep, nowadays the factories are full of the skins of exotic species such as snakes, crocodiles and ostriches.
Make no mistake, it's big business - the Centro Rettili, one of the largest tanneries, last year dealt with 3,000 individual crocodile skins and 50,000 snakes - producing 170,000 metres of python skin (roughly 100 miles, the distance from London to Birmingham).
The three-storey factory is run by Roberto Bachi, who set up the company in 1985 and has 20 employees.
Their work consists of turning the sundried skins that arrive at the tannery into a material that is both workable and highly desirable.
'We work for all the big designer labels - Versace, Gucci, Chanel, La Croix and Fendi and the skins are used for handbags, belts and shoes,' explains Mr Bachi.
The crocodile skins, he says, are farmed in America while the snakes are imported from Indonesia. 'In the Indonesian jungle, they are caught using ropes. I know some of these poor people have been killed in the process,' he adds.
'They have been crushed or strangled to death and the python also ingests its prey once it is dead - it's not a very pleasant end if you are caught by a python.' Very true Signor Bachi. But reverse the roles and the same is true.
Equally pertinent are the growing concerns about the impact the reptile skin trade is having on fragile species and the eco-systems in which they live.
For while the fashion industry defends its use of these animals by claiming that they are either farmed or harvested under a strict system of quotas, environmentalists say the reality of what is happening is not that simple.
Consider the plight of the reticulated python, the most popular of snakes when it comes to the manufacture of shoes and handbags.
Found primarily in South East Asia, it is the world's longest snake, with exceptional specimens growing up to 30 ft in length. It is fast growing, has a beautifully patterned skin and has been plentiful in the past.
However, experts warn that the population is under severe threat.
This is recognised in part by the fact it is on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - an agreement to which more than 170 countries have put their names. CITES aims to protect specific species from extinction by controlling the trade in these animals.
This year, for instance, it stipulated that 157,000 reticulated python skins could be exported from Indonesia. The figure has stayed relatively stable for years and one might be forgiven for imagining that the population can sustain the removal of that number of snakes every year.
But those on the ground say that simply is not the case. Dr Mark Auliya is based in Malaysia and is the South East Asian scientific officer for TRAFFIC, an organisation linked to the World Wildlife Fund which helps monitor the international wildlife trade.
He warns that the reticulated python population is under pressure. 'While the quota established by the Governmental authorities stays the same, every year the hunting areas required to fulfill that quota grows larger,' he said.
'This means that 20 years ago a certain amount of pythons could be harvested from a much smaller area than today.
'Also, there is clear evidence that large specimens are getting rarer and rarer. It shows that the reticulated python cannot cope in the long term with the high out-take by the commercial skin trade.'
While clearly better than nothing, the CITES quota system has long been criticised for being far too 'generous'.
'It is really a convention on trade and not on protection,' says Clifford Warwick, a consultant biologist and one of Britain's leading reptile experts.
'Any quotas set by CITES or by anyone else I take with an absolute pinch of salt.'
And this year, like never before, skin is most certainly 'in'. Indeed, the hottest fashion debate in town is not about the ethics of the trade - but whether to opt for python or anaconda.
Take, for example, Jimmy Choo, makers of shoes and bags. The high-end fashion house's £1,695 Rio clutch handbag is available in the skins of either of the above.
Or what about treading in Sienna Miller's fashion footsteps with a pair of python-skin boots by the American designer Devi Kroell? Yours for just a shade under £1,000. Something else? Try Calvin Klein's alligator jackets, Celine's white python skirt or a metallic python bag by Zagliani - injected with silicone for an ultra-soft feel.
Jennifer Lopez has been spotted out and about sporting the Zag-bag while Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria's passion for a giant £1,300 python bag by Prada saw websites inundated with drooling postings from envious fashion-watchers.
'Wow will you look at that!!!,' wrote one such contributor. 'You get a lotta python for your money. It's beautiful!' But, as environmentalists are only too quick to point out, it looks a whole lot more beautiful on the snake.
On the banks of the River Arno there's an Italian town whose motto goes as follows: 'Always make sure people walk on Santa Croce shoes and dress in Santa Croce skins'.
As the saying implies, Santa Croce has been the home of the Italian tanning industry for centuries. But, while it has traditionally specialised in treating hides from cattle and sheep, nowadays the factories are full of the skins of exotic species such as snakes, crocodiles and ostriches.
Make no mistake, it's big business - the Centro Rettili, one of the largest tanneries, last year dealt with 3,000 individual crocodile skins and 50,000 snakes - producing 170,000 metres of python skin (roughly 100 miles, the distance from London to Birmingham).
The three-storey factory is run by Roberto Bachi, who set up the company in 1985 and has 20 employees.
Their work consists of turning the sundried skins that arrive at the tannery into a material that is both workable and highly desirable.
'We work for all the big designer labels - Versace, Gucci, Chanel, La Croix and Fendi and the skins are used for handbags, belts and shoes,' explains Mr Bachi.
The crocodile skins, he says, are farmed in America while the snakes are imported from Indonesia. 'In the Indonesian jungle, they are caught using ropes. I know some of these poor people have been killed in the process,' he adds.
'They have been crushed or strangled to death and the python also ingests its prey once it is dead - it's not a very pleasant end if you are caught by a python.' Very true Signor Bachi. But reverse the roles and the same is true.
Equally pertinent are the growing concerns about the impact the reptile skin trade is having on fragile species and the eco-systems in which they live.
For while the fashion industry defends its use of these animals by claiming that they are either farmed or harvested under a strict system of quotas, environmentalists say the reality of what is happening is not that simple.
Consider the plight of the reticulated python, the most popular of snakes when it comes to the manufacture of shoes and handbags.
Found primarily in South East Asia, it is the world's longest snake, with exceptional specimens growing up to 30 ft in length. It is fast growing, has a beautifully patterned skin and has been plentiful in the past.
However, experts warn that the population is under severe threat.
This is recognised in part by the fact it is on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - an agreement to which more than 170 countries have put their names. CITES aims to protect specific species from extinction by controlling the trade in these animals.
This year, for instance, it stipulated that 157,000 reticulated python skins could be exported from Indonesia. The figure has stayed relatively stable for years and one might be forgiven for imagining that the population can sustain the removal of that number of snakes every year.
But those on the ground say that simply is not the case. Dr Mark Auliya is based in Malaysia and is the South East Asian scientific officer for TRAFFIC, an organisation linked to the World Wildlife Fund which helps monitor the international wildlife trade.
He warns that the reticulated python population is under pressure. 'While the quota established by the Governmental authorities stays the same, every year the hunting areas required to fulfill that quota grows larger,' he said.
'This means that 20 years ago a certain amount of pythons could be harvested from a much smaller area than today.
'Also, there is clear evidence that large specimens are getting rarer and rarer. It shows that the reticulated python cannot cope in the long term with the high out-take by the commercial skin trade.'
While clearly better than nothing, the CITES quota system has long been criticised for being far too 'generous'.
'It is really a convention on trade and not on protection,' says Clifford Warwick, a consultant biologist and one of Britain's leading reptile experts.
'Any quotas set by CITES or by anyone else I take with an absolute pinch of salt.'
Valentino Vertigo Python Purple Shopper
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Dior Python Leather Pumps
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For every animal or animal product that goes through the system legally, it is estimated that another will be smuggled. Evidence of the scale of this illicit trade emerged recently when more than half a ton of python skins were discovered hidden in audio speaker parts in a lorry being driven from Malaysia to Singapore.
'In Indonesia relatively low-level bribery gets something through,' says Mr Warwick.'
CITES certificates can be bought at very little cost, forged or copied and they are very rarely inspected. It is not a problem - it is simple to move snake and reptile skins around.
'If you have half your trade in the world slipping through the net, you effectively have no control.'
Both Dr Auliya and Mr Warwick's own experiences also raise questions about claims that the snakes or reptile skins used in the fashion industry come from farmed stocks. Mr Warwick says that less than 10 per cent of reptiles are farmed because the process is too expensive and too complicated.
Even alligator ranches in America, he explains, have to be 'topped up' with wild adult specimens because the breeding process has such a high mortality rate.
'The slaughter process is pretty dire,' says Mr Warwick.
'The snakes are often nailed to a tree with a large nail. It doesn't kill them because they have a small brain and there's little chance of actually hitting it.
'The hunters then slice round the base of the head and peel the skin clean off the live animal and then throw the still-living carcass onto a pile and leave it to die. It can take hours or days for them to die from dehydration or shock - it is a really dreadful thing for them to do.'
He continues: 'In other places they will decapitate the animal before skinning. The problem is that decapitating the snake doesn't kill it instantly.
'With a snake the head will be alive for an hour or two hours - completely conscious, completely sensitive to pain, fear and everything else.
'That comes about because their metabolic rate is much lower and slower than ours and accustomed to low blood pressure. The nervous system is quite resistant to lack of oxygen and continues to survive without its body for some time.'
Equally disturbing, says Mr Warwick, is witnessing alligators being skinned at U.S. ranches. They are clubbed to death or have a chisel smashed through their spinal cord with a hammer ('it paralyses the animal and they then get a short knife and slice through as many blood vessels they can reach - so you have a paralysed animal that is slowly bleeding to death and that usually goes through the skinning process before it is dead').
The gulf between the blood and gore of the 'harvest' and the boutiques that sell the end products could hardly be more stark. In London's exclusive Harvey Nichols, for instance, they are selling Zagliani python clutch bags for £725. They are highly sought after because the snake skin from which it is made is treated with silicone.
It is a technique developed by Mauro Orietti-Carella, the man behind the Zagliani label, who insists that the snake skin he uses is always CITES certificated.
Carella said: 'I think it's very important to keep the equilibrium of nature so what is taken out of the environment is replaced - I deal in a very honourable way with skins.'
They are fine words. But quite what they count for, in the jungles of Java, one can only wonder.
Source
'In Indonesia relatively low-level bribery gets something through,' says Mr Warwick.'
CITES certificates can be bought at very little cost, forged or copied and they are very rarely inspected. It is not a problem - it is simple to move snake and reptile skins around.
'If you have half your trade in the world slipping through the net, you effectively have no control.'
Both Dr Auliya and Mr Warwick's own experiences also raise questions about claims that the snakes or reptile skins used in the fashion industry come from farmed stocks. Mr Warwick says that less than 10 per cent of reptiles are farmed because the process is too expensive and too complicated.
Even alligator ranches in America, he explains, have to be 'topped up' with wild adult specimens because the breeding process has such a high mortality rate.
'The slaughter process is pretty dire,' says Mr Warwick.
'The snakes are often nailed to a tree with a large nail. It doesn't kill them because they have a small brain and there's little chance of actually hitting it.
'The hunters then slice round the base of the head and peel the skin clean off the live animal and then throw the still-living carcass onto a pile and leave it to die. It can take hours or days for them to die from dehydration or shock - it is a really dreadful thing for them to do.'
He continues: 'In other places they will decapitate the animal before skinning. The problem is that decapitating the snake doesn't kill it instantly.
'With a snake the head will be alive for an hour or two hours - completely conscious, completely sensitive to pain, fear and everything else.
'That comes about because their metabolic rate is much lower and slower than ours and accustomed to low blood pressure. The nervous system is quite resistant to lack of oxygen and continues to survive without its body for some time.'
Equally disturbing, says Mr Warwick, is witnessing alligators being skinned at U.S. ranches. They are clubbed to death or have a chisel smashed through their spinal cord with a hammer ('it paralyses the animal and they then get a short knife and slice through as many blood vessels they can reach - so you have a paralysed animal that is slowly bleeding to death and that usually goes through the skinning process before it is dead').
The gulf between the blood and gore of the 'harvest' and the boutiques that sell the end products could hardly be more stark. In London's exclusive Harvey Nichols, for instance, they are selling Zagliani python clutch bags for £725. They are highly sought after because the snake skin from which it is made is treated with silicone.
It is a technique developed by Mauro Orietti-Carella, the man behind the Zagliani label, who insists that the snake skin he uses is always CITES certificated.
Carella said: 'I think it's very important to keep the equilibrium of nature so what is taken out of the environment is replaced - I deal in a very honourable way with skins.'
They are fine words. But quite what they count for, in the jungles of Java, one can only wonder.
Source
Pledge to shed exotic skins from your wardrobe
I, the undersigned, hereby pledge to shed exotic skins from my wardrobe. I say "No!" to the cruel slaughter of millions of animals around the world for their skins. I say "No!" to shoes, coats, bags and other products made from the skins of animals and to any other attempt to sneak animal skins into everyday items. I pledge to expose the truth about exotic skins and to spread the word until we close down the exotic-skins trade forever.
Please click HERE to get re-directed to the website of PETA where you can sign.
Thank you!
Please click HERE to get re-directed to the website of PETA where you can sign.
Thank you!
Please take action - sign the petition to the EU!
By signing our petition using the widget or directly at change.org, the following message will instantly be sent to the chair of the Committee of Petitions at the European Parliament.
Ban all snake and reptile skin products in the EU!
Every year millions of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and alligators are farmed or hunted and killed for their skins - to be used for footware, clothing, belts and countless other fashion accessories.
Python shoes, boots, belts, jackets and skirts are being fashioned from snakes’ skin and items made from exotic skins come with a high price – and that it's paid by the animals who are torn away from their jungle homes and cruelly killed; this illicit trade can even have terrible consequences for fragile eco-systems around the world.
Snakes killed for their skin are often nailed to trees and skinned alive before being tossed into a pile to die. They can suffer for days before succumbing to shock or dehydration. Pythons often have a hose inserted into their mouth and are pumped full of water to make them easier to skin. Alligators on farms are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die.
If you need more proof that reptiles suffer when they are exploited for fashion, see the pictures and watch the videos on the website of Occupy for Animals:
http://www.occupyforanimals.org/leather--pythons-are-the-latest-victims-of-fashions-new-obsession.html
With tons of fashionable and cruelty-free alternatives such as fake snake and mock croc available, there is no reason for ANY animal to suffer to become a fashion accessory for humans.
We think that this industry is disgustingly cruel and that this trade must be stopped and we therefore request the European Union to ban any and all products made from reptile skinsa in the European Union.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Ban all snake and reptile skin products in the EU!
Every year millions of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and alligators are farmed or hunted and killed for their skins - to be used for footware, clothing, belts and countless other fashion accessories.
Python shoes, boots, belts, jackets and skirts are being fashioned from snakes’ skin and items made from exotic skins come with a high price – and that it's paid by the animals who are torn away from their jungle homes and cruelly killed; this illicit trade can even have terrible consequences for fragile eco-systems around the world.
Snakes killed for their skin are often nailed to trees and skinned alive before being tossed into a pile to die. They can suffer for days before succumbing to shock or dehydration. Pythons often have a hose inserted into their mouth and are pumped full of water to make them easier to skin. Alligators on farms are often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die.
If you need more proof that reptiles suffer when they are exploited for fashion, see the pictures and watch the videos on the website of Occupy for Animals:
http://www.occupyforanimals.org/leather--pythons-are-the-latest-victims-of-fashions-new-obsession.html
With tons of fashionable and cruelty-free alternatives such as fake snake and mock croc available, there is no reason for ANY animal to suffer to become a fashion accessory for humans.
We think that this industry is disgustingly cruel and that this trade must be stopped and we therefore request the European Union to ban any and all products made from reptile skinsa in the European Union.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Thank you for your signature.
Please, spread the word about this horrible industry!
