In never-before-seen footage, a PETA Asia investigation into an Indonesian slaughterhouse that supplies Gucci with lizard skins reveals how Gucci wallets, belts, and purses are made. The lizards’ legs are tied, then they’re callously thrown around and beheaded without stunning—causing them a prolonged, agonizing death. This kind of cruelty goes into every one of Gucci’s lizard leather purses, belts, wallets, and other fashion accessories.
See for yourself what happens to the animals used and killed to make Gucci accessories. Then take action to spare lizards an excruciatingly painful death.
According to Dr. Clifford Warwick, a reptile expert who reviewed PETA Asia’s footage, decapitating live, conscious reptiles has been recognized as extremely inhumane by major scientific bodies for approximately four decades and is illegal in some parts of the world.
Decapitation does not cause an instantaneous death in lizards. According to Dr. Warwick, the lizards’ brains were probably conscious—fully aware and feeling intense physical pain and psychological stress—for over 30 minutes after they had been beheaded. PETA Asia’s footage shows lizards’ heads moving after being severed.
Workers then inflated the lizards’ headless bodies with an air compressor to make their skin easier to remove.
“The film depicts the brutal treatment and killing of lizards using methods that are strongly inconsistent with scientific evidence-based protocols, are contraindicated, are abusive, and are inhumane.” —Dr. Clifford Warwick, PGDip (MedSci), Ph.D., C.Biol., C.Sci., EurProBiol, FRSB
Despite hearing from PETA, Gucci continues to profit from this kind of cruelty.
Lizards have individual personalities, just like cats and dogs. Research has shown that some species of lizards are devoted parents and mates, and three generations of lizards may live together in family groups. Rather than exploring lush rainforests, the lizards used by Gucci are taken out of their natural habitat, abused, and violently killed for cold-blooded vanity.
No bag, belt, or wallet is worth so much pain and suffering. Please don’t buy accessories made out of exotic skins: Choose humane, eco-friendly, vegan options instead.
PETA is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation.