Thai factory workers hammer pythons to death before they’re pumped with water and skinned to make leather for Gucci and Louis Vuitton

Reptile farms in Thailand that supply leather to Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton kill snakes by hitting them on the head with hammers.

Video and photos from Closed-Cycle Breeding International and Si Satchanalai Python Farm reveal the disturbing ways in which reptiles were housed and slaughtered.

Workers placed the python’s head on a table and hit it repeatedly with a hammer, a shocking method that experts said might not even knock them out.

They then drove a metal hook through their heads and pumped the hose full of water to make skin removal easier.

Phokkathara Crocodile Farm, which supplies skins to Kering brands such as Gucci and YVS, also killed its reptiles using shocking and painful methods.

They then drove a metal hook through their heads and pumped the hose full of water (pictured) to make skin removal easier.

The footage was obtained by undercover investigators from animal rights group PETA, who spoke to farm owners and toured their facilities.

CCBI and Si Satchanalai, owned by father and son, told investigators they supplied leather to Caravel, a Kering tannery, and to Louis Vuitton.

The massive CCBI farm had 15,000 pythons in captivity and killed 20 to 30 a day during busy seasons to fulfill a 5,000-hide contract with Caravel this year.

Snake skins are used to make bags, shoes, belts and other accessories sold by luxury brands around the world.

Pythons on the two farms were bred in captivity and housed in completely bare small cages and stalls, sometimes slithering in their own feces.

The owners said snakes sometimes killed each other during the breeding season, when females were mated with three or four males.

They pointed to an emaciated snake that ‘hadn’t eaten for a long time’ and said ‘they have to get rid of it… it’s better to kill’.

Another snake had not molted properly and the molting scales were in its eyes, which, according to the owner, was also a reason to kill it and throw it away.

Pythons on the two farms were bred in captivity and housed in completely bare small cages and stalls, sometimes slithering in their own feces

Snake skins are used to make bags, shoes, belts and other accessories sold by luxury brands around the world

A worker pumps a hose with water, while skinned snakes are seen in boxes

The massive CCBI farm had 15,000 pythons in captivity and killed 20 to 30 a day during busy seasons to fulfill a 5,000-hide contract with Caravel this year

The owner said the snakes were refrigerated for a day before being killed, but scientists are not convinced that hypothermia significantly reduces their sensitivity.

Clifford Warwick, a reptile expert to whom PETA showed the footage, said it was likely the snakes were conscious during their painful deaths.

Many of the snakes continued to move during and even after the process that was supposed to kill them.

Researchers also visited the crocodile farm, which Caravel supplied, and watched as workers tried to kill the animals with a ‘neck stab’ to sever their spinal cord.

PETA said the method “likely caused extreme pain and a slow, agonizing death.”

“This animal’s legs continued to move for at least 23 minutes after the worker forcibly plunged a metal knife into his or her neck,” it said.

‘Scientific evaluation suggests that crocodiles can remain alive and conscious for more than an hour and a half after sustaining such injuries.’

The farm’s owner claimed there were 4,000 crocodiles on site, kept in murky pools riddled with disease.

Metal hooks are driven through the pythons’ heads so they can be skinned – but they may still be alive and conscious

Workers hit pythons on the head with hammers to stun or kill them

Researchers also visited the crocodile farm, which supplied Caravel, and watched as workers attempted to kill the animals with a “neck stab” to sever their spinal cords.

An invoice between Closed-Cycle Breeding International and Caravel

Kering lists Caraveli Pelli Pregiate SpA, the legal name for the Caravel tannery, as a wholly owned entity. It bought a majority stake in the company in 2001 and acquired the rest in 2008.

Kering’s animal welfare standards state that animals should be ‘given space to move freely’ and ‘managed to promote good health and treated immediately if disease or injury is discovered’.

They also require “humane treatment at the end of life.”

Kering helped start the Python Conservation Partnership in 2013, which aims to ‘improve sustainability, transparency, animal welfare and local livelihoods for the python skin trade’.

PETA claimed that its investigation found that these standards were not being followed.

According to a 2017 report, around 500,000 snake skins are legally imported into Europe from Southeast Asia every year.

Kering and Louis Vuitton parent company LVMH were contacted for comment.