http://investigations.peta.org/ostriches-butchered-hermes-luxury/?utm_campaign=0216%20Ostrich%20Skins%20Investigation%20Tweet&utm_source=PETA%20Twitter&utm_medium=Promo

I have forced my friends and family to watch this horrifying video. I would like to force you to also watch this video.  After watching that video, how did you feel? I can tell you that I cried. I also felt very sick the rest of the day after watching that video.

If you ever thought having a designer bag was cool or in style, you are wrong. How can ripping an innocent animal into pieces and turning it into a designer bag be considered “trendy” or even be considered owning “a nice, luxury bag”? Ostriches are the largest and fastest of all land animals that have only two legs. They are described as smart and sensitive animals. Why should a living thing that has never done anything wrong be slaughtered for a human’s own good? Are designer ostrich bags a necessity for human life? NO. Should humans be the ones that are punished for these immoral doings? Yes.

If you didn’t watch the video, I will give you a little recap here. PETA traveled to South Africa, specifically the Western Cape, to expose the horrors that precede these luxury designer bags. The Western Cape is the “largest ostrich killing capital of the world”.  The video states that 75% of the world’s ostrich leather, feathers, and meat come from slaughterhouses in the Western Cape. The part of the ostrich used for bags and shoes for brands such as Prada and Hermés, uses the skin on their back.

The video shows three day old baby ostriches and states that soon they will be turned into just a designer wallet, purse, belt, or a pair of shoes. If this doesn’t begin to bring tears to your eyes, just wait for the rest of the video.

To start off the horrid lives of these ostriches, they never even meet their parents. However, an ostrich in the wild stays with its mom until it is three years old. While living almost 40 years in the wild, they are killed at one years old in these slaughterhouses. They are held in captivity every day of their lives. They are considered a non-living thing before they are even hatched. In order to use them while they are alive, they pluck feathers out of them to use for feather dusters or carnivals in other countries.

When the ostriches reach their first birthday, they are transported to the kill factories. They are one by one escorted and electrocuted. They are manhandled into the machines that electrocute them. Their limbs are instantly clamped together in order to disable movement. Right after, their throats are cut. This is how designer bags are made. Every time you use your designer bag or buy a designer bag, the process of an ostrich being slaughtered should run through your head countless times. Was it worth it for this ostrich to be brutally slaughtered in order for you to feel stylish? I hope you know bumps on the ostrich bags are bumps on their skin left from viscously plucking out their feathers.

If you or your friend or your family has a designer bag, I think some rethinking should occur. These poor animals are slaughtered, treated like a piece of garbage, for virtually nothing; for a bag you will maybe use a few times in your life. Buy faux leather bags. No one can tell the difference and no animal was harmed in the process.