Worry over cruel croc shows

Animal activists are raising concerns over the cruelty against crocodiles during public shows at a farm here besides it being a risk to workers there.

“During the shows, the crocodile is cruelly prodded with sticks so that a staff member can later lie on it and another puts his arm inside its mouth,” Friends of Orang Utan (Malaysia) director Upreshpal Singh said.

He said their investigation team learned from one of the farm worker that he was once injured during a performance.

“Do we want to wait for another incident like the one which happened in Sandakan?” he asked, referring to a 35-year-old worker who was mauled by a 800kg crocodile that he was feeding at a crocodile farm in Sandakan in February 2017.

Friends of Orang Utan said that such shows should be stopped before something serious happened.

The NGO, which has been monitoring conditions of zoos and mini-zoos in Malaysia, also noted that the condition in the crocodile farm in question had remained unchanged for over five years.

They believe that many other animals like macaques, ostriches, otters and birds among others had died there and yet it would be receiving more animals, pending approval from the Sabah Wildlife Department.

The department, Upreshpal said, should put a stop to this.

He said the state government should also shut down a mini-zoo in Sandakan which has been an eyesore and a bane to animals.

The animals, he claimed, were kept in tiny or barren enclosures or cages.

During an animal show at the mini zoo, the NGO found a macaque chained around its neck and paraded before the crowd and made to perform tricks including riding a stationary bike.

California Bans Alligator and Crocodile Skin Sales

We’re thrilled to announce a huge victory for alligators and crocodiles, thanks to California residents and legislators who just saved a law aimed at protecting them.

California technically banned alligator- and crocodile-skin sales back in 1970, but the exotic-skins industry has been fighting the ban ever since to keep it from going into effect. Just this year, these special interests—which included the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries—tried to push through three assembly bills, the most recent being Assembly Bill 1561, which would have continued delaying the ban. But PETA, Social Compassion in Legislation, and other groups sent out action alerts to our supporters, blasted tweets, garnered celebrity support, enlisted reptile experts to weigh in, and got animal advocates out in full force to protect this vital legislation.

We—and the animals—won! California’s long-awaited ban will go into effect on January 1, 2020. Thank you to everyone who made this historic victory happen!

PETA exposés of the exotic-skins industry have revealed appalling abuse at every turn. On an alligator factory farm in Texas, PETA’s eyewitness found that the animals were kept in fetid water in dank, dark sheds. Alligators were still kicking and flailing after workers tried to kill them. Another PETA exposé revealed that workers electroshocked crocodiles and then attempted to kill them by cutting into their necks and ramming metal rods down their spines while the animals writhed.

But there is growing momentum against the use of these animals’ skins. Major designers and retailers—including Arcadia Group (which owns Topshop), Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, H&M, L Brands (which owns Victoria’s Secret), Nike, PUMA, bebe, Stella McCartney, and Victoria Beckham—are exotic skin–free.

Tell Hermès and Prada that the time for using and abusing these animals is over. They can’t hawk their skins in California anymore, and it’s time they stopped selling them elsewhere, too.