The Chinese 'Fox Farms' where animals are clubbed to death and skinned in their thousands to feed the global fashion market

• These horrific pictures were taken at Lanhu Farm, in Jilin Province, China
• It is among many such farms in the region which breed foxes for their fur
• Farmer says his margins are so slim that he can't afford humane slaughter
• Instead some are even skinned alive to save farmhands time and effort
  

By Matt Blake

PUBLISHED: 11:06 EST, 25 November 2013 | UPDATED: 12:43 EST, 25 November 2013

Puffing casually on a cigarette, a farmhand dangles a white fox by its tail as he clubs it to death with a stick.

The method is simple yet brutal - and just one of a variety of ways China's controversial Fox Farms slaughter the animals in the name of fashion.

Others include breaking their necks under a boot or stomping on their heads. Activists say they are the lucky ones. The more docile foxes who don't struggle are simply strung up and skinned alive to save their slaughterers time and energy.

Those who live nearby say the stench of death hangs in the air while chilling howls of fear and pain can be heard rising from the compound night and day.

In the name of fashion: Puffing casually on a cigarette, a farmhand dangles a white fox by its tail as he clubs it to death with a stick

When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them.

Yet even with their pelt removed, some are still alive, gasping for air and blinking slowly for as long as ten minutes as they wait for death, say activists.

Their furs are then shipped off to be worn as hats or coats by fashionistas across the world.

Some of the pictures to have emerged from these farms are too graphic to show on this website.

Animal-rights activists are demanding action to stop this wholesale slaughter of thousands of foxes for the global fashion industry every year.

Waiting to die: The foxes are held in tiny cages awaiting their turn to die as others are slaughtered before their eyes

But owners of the controversial Fox Farms say that their margins are so slim that they cannot afford to give the foxes humane deaths as campaigners demand.

Instead the animals are kept in tiny cages until autumn when they are dragged out through the mud and beaten with clubs or sticks in time for winter fashion collections.

Activists say they even spotted some of the animals being kicked or stamped on to kill them.

And all of the killings happen before the eyes of animals awaiting their turn, frantically trying to escape.

Hungry market: The pelts are left to dry on planks of wood at the edge of the compound. They are then shipped off to be worn as hats or coats by fashionistas across the world

Only a few are spared to breed next year's crop.

Lanhu farm, near Xi'an city, Jilin Province, is one of many such slaughterhouses in the rural heartland of northeast China.

The activists have been backed by locals who don't work on the farm complaining that the screams and cries as the beasts killed are particularly distressing for children.

The animals kept on the farm include the blue fox, the common red fox and the raccoon.

Farm manager On Kung said that it cost about £30 to provide the food to raise one of the animals for nine months until it is fully grown and ready for slaughter.

And they were only paid around about £60 when they sold it to the profit margin was very low.

He said most farms had between 200 and 300 animals and the money they earned had to keep them running all year hence the need to keep costs low.