Skinning cats for pelts

[snopes]

Comment: Umm I just found a really disturbing series of images, and I'm wondering if it is actually real...

Because I know that's a crime in North America, but maybe not where the person did it, but it is still pretty darn wrong.

Just wondering if it's real or not.

Link of site where I found it: http://darkmonkey.org.uk/4/Main/745

Not sure where the "tail" is coming from (it's not even the same color as the cat in the first pic). It is clearly, to me anyway, a rabbit being skinned.

[lynnejanet]

I've skinned a lot of rabbits (really, I have) and that's clearly a rabbit carcass that she is skinning. You can see the bunny's hind feet in a couple of the shots, and they don't look anything like cat feet. The tail has been added in for effect.

I'm not sure about the origin of the pelt in the last shot, though. It doesn't look like a rabbit pelt. Rabbits do have an agouti pattern, but not generally with the dark strip down the spine, or the stripes. I haven't been immersed in the rabbit world in a long time, though, so it's possible that such a colour pattern has been developed.

My guess is that she bought a cat pelt, and maybe the purse, in Asia (where I understand they are available) and set up the rest of the photos.

[Eddylizard]

Is it a crime in North America?

AFAIK it is not a crime to kill your own pet here. It becomes a crime if you do it in an inhumane manner. If you kill it humanely or if it just dies, then you can use the remains in any manner you choose. Maybe restaurant use might be questionable, but as long as you declare it as what it is, and have the necessary licences to slaughter animals, I guess that's okay too.

Just to chuck another UL in here, I saw an exspose TV programme about 30 years ago where they were claiming that euthanised dogs and cats where the owner asked the vet to dispose of the creature were being sold on to the fur trade.

[WonkoTheSane]

I look at it as a pretty obvious spoof given the content of the rest of the site:



Wonko

[Morrigan]

The pelt might have come from a taxidermist.

I agree that the skinned animal was a rabbit, though. The feet were the wrong feet to belong to the cat.

Morrigan