© AFP Photo
Illegal python skins worth an estimated $1 billion are being imported into Europe every year to feed growing demand for the luxury leather, according to a new report.
Nearly 500,000 skins are shipped on the black market from southeast Asia every year to grace the windows of Europe's fashion houses, particularly in France, Germany and Spain, a report by the Python Conservation Partnership found.
The rising demand from major brands like Calvin Klein and Jimmy Choo, which use the exotic patterned skin to make handbags, shoes and jackets, is depleting wild populations of the giant snake.
Instead, the report said commercial python farming, previously deemed unviable as the snakes take too long to mature and are difficult to feed and breed in captivity, could be the answer.
"This report offers a possible alternative solution to the sourcing of python skins for which demand is escalating," said Jean-Christophe Vie, a senior executive at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which backed the study.
Comment: There is an epidemic of police brutality sweeping the U.S. At least 500 innocent people are murdered by police in SWAT team raids numbering 40,000 every year:
Militarization of local police means that now cops kill 8 times more Americans than terrorists do
Why Do the Police Have Tanks? The Strange and Dangerous Militarization of the US Police Force
Police States of America: Americans killed by cops now outnumber Americans killed in Iraq war