GRAPHIC: ‘Scene from hell’ footage shows foxes clubbed and skinned alive on fur farms

Footage taken from an Asian fur farm shows a huge pile of skinless foxes who lived a miserable life in cages followed by extremely painful deaths.

Investigators for the Humane Society International (HSI) filmed at 11 randomly selected fur farms in one of the top Asian countries who export fur to high end stores in the UK. The country the footage was taken was not revealed to protect the identity of the investigators.

Wildlife presenter and campaigner Chris Peckham described the footage as ‘like a scene from hell‘ as animals were witnessed being bludgeoned on the head with metal bars. Some were cut with knives or skinned alive.

Animals were seen to be repetitively pacing and swaying their heads, classic signs of mental distress and boredom. When the foxes and raccoon dogs are a year old and their winter coats have developed, they are repeatedly smashed over the head with a metal bar while terrified cage mates helplessly bark.

Investigators also captured what experts say is strong evidence of a fox regaining consciousness after being fully skinned and thrown on a pile.

Despite the fact that the UK banned fur farming nearly 20 years ago, the country still allows the imports of tens of millions of pounds of fur every year from farms in Finland, Italy, Poland, mainland China, Hong Kong, India and Thailand.

It was reported by Metro.co.uk that clothing such as coats and handbags were making their way onto the shelves in TK Maxx despite their policy banning it.

Images of foxes being tossed into piles after being skinned. Picture: Humane Society