Charles Darwin's descendant challenges Hermès manager over fate of farmed crocodiles
Charles Darwin's descendant warns about the fate of farmed crocodiles PETA
That humans stop considering animals as raw materials, like rubber or cocoa, is one of the topics of the century. The Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) association, the world's largest animal rights organization, with a half-century of legal advances in their favor, is now seeing the arrival of an ally as valuable as it is unexpected: Chris Darwin, the great-great-grandson of the great Charles. He has been working from Australia, where he has lived for twenty years, to defend animals, particularly farmed crocodiles, animals subjected to artificial reproduction for commercial exploitation. The captive Crocodylus porosus is destined to become an expensive handbag on the arm of an elegant woman or a pair of chic loafers.
For this reason, Chris Darwin is concerned that the Hermès brand remains deaf to Peta's demands when other luxury brands (Chanel, Balenciaga, Burberry, Mulberry, Victoria Beckham, Diane von Furstenberg and, of course, Vivienne Westwood, as well as the Fashion Weeks in London, Copenhagen, Melbourne and Helsinki) have agreed to ban the skins of reptiles and other wild animals.
But what's going on at Hermès? A spokesperson for Peta France has been going to Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, where the lavish headquarters are located, for years, for meetings that are always pointless. Nothing changes. So, this year, Chris Darwin opted for a powerful symbolic gesture: to send the manager of the house, Axel Dumas, this gift on his birthday on July 3: a copy of "The Origin of Species," his ancestor's breathtaking work published in 1859. He could just as easily have chosen the important essay "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals," devoted to the evolution of human psychology and its astonishing proximity to that of animals.
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Chris Darwin accompanied his gift with a little note, more precisely a letter calling on the decision-maker to "evolve" too, and opt for vegetable leathers , which are now beautifully made. In the meantime, he shows his credentials from the beginning of his letter: "I know that we have at least two things in common: we are both related to a famous person and we both work in the family business. I also know that you are the sixth generation to take the helm of Hermès and that the company is thriving under your leadership with impressive achievements. My great-great-grandfather is the naturalist Charles Darwin."
A terrible deathWhile calling for dialogue, Chris Darwin refutes the statements heard at the Hermès shareholders' meeting in April – Peta bought a share to attend every year and ask questions. Again, Axel Dumas claimed that the Australian farms where Hermès sources its products preserve an ecosystem and protect endangered crocodile species. In truth, the decline of crocodiles was only prevented thanks to the permanent ban on hunting them. It is therefore a completely different reality underway in Australia's intensive farms that has been revealed by the Farm Transparency Project, which is the equivalent there of L214 .
The images released by the association show hundreds of crocodiles crammed together in cages or concrete enclosures. They will be electrocuted at the age of 2 or 3 years before being skinned alive because Crocodylus porosus , with its robust constitution, does not always die from electrocution and can survive for days before death frees it from the suffering of severe burns established by science: the species has an impeccable nervous system.
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