Hermès Opens Australian Farm With 50,000 Alligators for Luxury Goods
Attracting controversy from animal welfare groups.
Luxury fashion house Hermès is planning on opening a new alligator farm in Australia, which has attracted criticism from animal welfare groups.
According to the company’s plans — which have now been approved by the Australian government — the farm will hire 30 employees and begin with 4,000 alligators, a number that will eventually increase to a staggering 50,000 while producing 15,000 skins a year. The area is already home to numerous alligator farms, but those numbers will make the upcoming establishment one of the largest in the region.
Unsurprisingly, the move attracted controversy and criticism with animal welfare groups, who argue that using exotic animal skins is no longer a widely accepted practice. “Consumers and fashion houses are walking away from animal cruelty as fast as they can,” said Nicola Beynon of the Humane Society International, highlighting that brands such as Chanel, Mulberry, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger have all already adopted animal welfare policies against using exotic skins. “It seems foolish to be investing in an industry that is no longer fashionable.”
Dr. Jed Goodfellow at the RSPCA in Australia also condemned killing any animals “where the purpose of their death is primarily to produce a non-essential luxury item like fur or skin,” and that such intense conditions at an alligator farm would raise a range of risks, “including injuries from close confinement, small individual penning arrangements, and the impacts of restraint and slaughter methods.”
On the other side, however, the chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s crocodile specialist group Professor Grahame Webb says that fashion brands like Hermès actually contribute to the conservation efforts in the area. “[Those companies] have to get more and more control over their supply chain so that they can guarantee the highest standards,” he said to the Guardian. “Hermès is a very conservative company – it’s them trying to do the right thing. Australia has an excellent reputation for its crocodile management program worldwide.” Webb also noted that harvesting eggs from the wild was sustainable, and the number of wild saltwater crocodiles is now “healthy and stable.”
In other fashion-related news, Prada has mistakenly displayed 99 percent off sale due to a technical mistake.
