Man's best friend butchered in China for leather. (Photo : Getty Images)
An American animal rights advocacy group posted a video on Twitter accusing China of mislabeling dog skin as sheep leather and revealed how the country is mistreating the domestic animals in the process.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) posted a gruesome video on Sunday showing remains of what they claimed to be dogs killed for their skin in China.
"Many people don't know that dog leather from China is mislabeled & sold WORLDWIDE," the advocacy group Tweeted, urging people to refrain from buying leather.
In another post, the group also shared a still image of what appears to be animal skin in a slaughter house, highlighting live dogs caged in the same room.
"Yes, those are DOGS. If ur wearing leather, there's no telling WHO it came from," the post read.
Aside from these social media campaigns, PETA has also revealed that they have been doing an in-depth and undercover probe on the alarming conditions of dogs in the Asian country.
According to the report, dogs in China are "bludgeoned and killed" for their skins to be turned into accessories such as leather gloves, jacket collar trim, belts, and even cat toys.
"At the slaughterhouse, the investigator filmed workers as they grabbed one dog after another around the neck with metal pinchers and bashed them over the head with a wooden pole," the report said.
Some dogs reportedly die almost instantly while others suffer longer, twitching and struggling until their throats are cut out and their skins are ripped from their bodies.
They also included the entire footage of the investigation and posted it on their official website as well as YouTube.
PETA Asia International Campaigns Vice President Jason Baker reiterated the dogs' suffering to the Global Times, adding that the country trades dog leather by labeling it as sheepskin, and that there's no way of telling "whose skin you're really in" if not for a DNA test.
Furthermore, PETA declared that China is the biggest supplier of leather all over the world because it does not have laws protecting such animals from being killed for their skins.
