PETA RAPS VIETNAM FOR TORTURING SNAKES, CROCODILES

Some Vietnamese farmers inflate the bodies of crocodiles and snakes before skinning them alive and selling their leather across the globe, according to an investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

“PETA has found that a snake farm in Vietnam that supplies snakeskin for use in the global leather industry subjects snakes to horrific cruelty," said Nirali Shah, a spokesperson for PETA.

This mistreatment includes "sealing off their mouths and anuses with rubber bands and then inflating them with an air compressor, causing extreme pain throughout their body, crushing their heart, and causing severe stress to the circulatory and nervous systems,” Shah told Chris Humphrey of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

One video released by PETA shows a worker standing on the inflated body of a python. In another shot, one of the animal’s tails was still moving. The snakes are kept in small cages and provided no veterinary care, and staff do not check the reptile’s vital signs before skinning and disemboweling them.

A single farm can reportedly kill up to 2,000 pythons a year, with the skins made into leather products, such as bags or purses, that are sold across the world. According to a 2016 report by the International Trade Center, there were 486 python farms registered in Vietnam. The same publication suggested that inflating snakes is a common practice in Vietnam.

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