These are standard practices in the python skin industry. New footage from PETA Asia documents how snakes suffer as workers cut into them for their skins.

Pythons are complex beings who enjoy basking in the warmth of the sun, but the snakes sentenced to die for handbags and accessories from brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci are confined to tiny, filthy boxes before being bludgeoned, pierced through the skull, and skinned. 

As documented in the video, some struggle helplessly as their skin is torn off, and many pythons are even skinned alive. 

Year of the Snake

The Year of the Snake begins on 29 January. Let’s also make 2025 a year for the snake.

During the busiest shopping period before Chinese New Year, PETA Asia supporters are gathering outside Gucci’s flagship stores with signs declaring, “Gucci: Killing Snakes Brings Bad Luck.” The actions are part of PETA’s campaign urging Gucci to stop selling accessories made from the skins of tormented pythons and for consumers to keep reptile skins off their shopping lists during Chinese New Year and beyond.

PETA Asia’s investigations have revealed that workers at two python farms that supply skins to a tannery operated by Kering—the owner of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent—pinned struggling pythons down by the neck before bashing them over the head with a hammer and impaling them on hooks while they were still moving.

Snakes are remarkable animals who can often be shy and generally passive. They smell with their tongue and can even tell which direction a scent is coming from. They are intelligent and sensitive. And we know that snakes feel pain in the same way as humans do. Don’t support their misery. Never buy or wear accessories made from any animals’ skin.

Join us in calling on Gucci to stop peddling pythons’ body parts and for shoppers to honour the Year of the Snake by leaving reptiles in peace.