Australia: visit to a crocodile breeding farm for the LVMH group
Audio 02:30
A baby crocodile at birth at Coolibah Farm, Australia.
February 2021. AFP - GREGORY PLESSE
By: Grégory Plesse
6 mins
Despite the economic crisis linked to the coronavirus, the luxury goods and leather goods sector is doing well.
And it is in Australia that the two French giants LVMH and Hermès continue to source crocodile skins for their bags, belts and shoes sold around the world.
Publicity
From our correspondent in Sydney,
From our correspondent in Sydney,
Feet in the mud and far from it all.
Welcome to Coolibah's farm.
During the rainy season, it is only accessible by helicopter.
At the moment, baby crocodiles are hatching from their eggs every day.
Ben Hindle, the director, ensures the visit.
“
Ah, you are lucky
!
Do you see them hatching
?
If you move your microphone closer, you'll hear them cry out,
”he tells us.
They make this noise to call their brothers to come out of their eggs, so that they are all born at the same time.
The babies are then transferred to a hatchery, fed six times a week with minced kangaroo meat.
► See also: South Africa, action to find crocodiles escaped from a farm
An activity increasingly criticized
They spend the last year of their life separated, in small individual enclosures.
These "
have been adopted by the industry over the past decade
: it is a way to allow the skin to heal bites and scratches, but also to prevent animals from injuring each other
", assures Annabelle Olsson, veterinarian.
They are slaughtered around the age of three.
Their skin is then sent to Singapore, to a tannery which supplies all the brands of the group with leather.
But this activity is increasingly criticized, in particular by the association PETA.
“
For every bag, belt or shoe made with crocodile leather, a very intelligent and sensitive animal is placed in captivity, subjected to a horrible life and multiple suffering before being killed,
” says Aleesha, a member of the association.
Other major brands, such as Chanel, have in recent years given up using exotic leathers.
But not LVMH.
“
We leave our brands and creative directors free to use these materials.
But if our houses decide to use these materials, we do everything to ensure that best practices are applied,
”says Alexandre Capelli, deputy director in charge of the environment.
An industry that brings in 67 million euros per year
The species, on the other hand, is not threatened by breeding.
On the contrary, it contributes to its preservation according to Grahame Webb, who chairs the Crocodiles group within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
“
You will never be able to make crocodiles love.
On the other hand, if that same community can derive economic benefit from them, then they will be ready to support them,
”says Grahame Webb.
The crocodile industry in the Northern Territory brings in 67 million euros a year.
And the sector is on the rise.
Hermès also bought a new farm in November which will eventually become the largest in the country.
► To read also: LVMH suspends the Fenty brand from Rihanna
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