People who are out to target PETA India are spreading fake news. Who are these people? They include those in the meat industry, those in the dairy factory-farming business, those who support the lifelong chaining of elephants and the torture of bulls, and others whose income or amusement depends on animal exploitation. So beware what you hear!
These fake-news spreaders are unable to attack the message, so they use the oldest trick in the book: attacking the messenger.
Here’s the real story: a look at PETA India’s history confirms that the Hindu principle of ahimsa – avoiding causing harm to any sentient being – drives all of our campaigns. We target cruelty to animals wherever it appears, because our motto is “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.” PETA India welcomes people of all religions or none and appeals to all communities across religious lines to consider making kind choices.
Religion is not a target – the human-supremacist attitude is. PETA India’s campaigns oppose speciesism, the view that humans are superior to all other animals and can harm them for any reason instead of respecting them as being part of the great orchestra of life. PETA India appeals to compassionate people of all backgrounds to live vegan and consider helping animals every day – and many do, including on festival days, not only by showing animals kindness such as by feeding and garlanding them but also by committing to not exploiting or harming them in any way.
Dietary vegans are vegetarians who refrain from consuming any foods taken from animals, such as eggs and milk, because of modern common industry practices like the killing of male baby animals they find unnecessary and cruel. As part of our opposition to speciesism and meat-eating, PETA India objects to animal sacrifice. Animal sacrifice is a practice not limited to Islam, but during Eid there is massive, visible slaughter, and PETA India opposes it including in ways described here. By encouraging vegan living and the giving of alms that don’t come from violence, we’ve helped many Muslims celebrate a slaughter-free Eid.
PETA India opposes the beef industry – which, perhaps surprisingly, exists largely because the dairy industry supplies it with animals to kill. Male calves, considered worthless by the dairy industry, are commonly sold for beef, left to starve, or abandoned on the streets. Some people choose to deny these facts, but that doesn’t make them any less true.
Vegan living includes ensuring we do not buy products made from the skin, wool, or hair of cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats, snakes, or any other animals. That’s why PETA India appeals to the public to wear vegan in a variety of ways.
PETA India also condemns the chaining of elephants, of course. The severe confinement and lack of proper exercise involved in keeping elephants nearly constantly chained lead to painful and even fatal conditions, including foot-pad infections from being forced to stand in their own waste, wounds, osteomyelitis, ankylosis, and osteoarthritis. It has been estimated that 50% of the deaths of captive elephants are caused by such afflictions. PETA India asks people to look at it this way: if we wouldn’t want to live away from our families, alone, in chains, neither would elephants who many of us revere as gods. Out of concern for their welfare, Kanchi Mutt retired three elephants to sanctuaries to live unchained, recognising that the temple where they were being held could not provide needed care. PETA India requests similar retirement for elephants like Lakshmi, who has been chained for two decades, all alone, since she was just 7 years old.
We also urge everyone to reject using animals for entertainment – including in circuses, races, fights, and spectacles like jallikattu – and to opt for animal-free games and shows instead. Where there is use of animals, there is abuse – including use of whips or other weapons – and there is invariably disregard for life itself. Since jallikattu has been allowed again beginning in 2017, at least 57 humans and 22 bulls have died outright and many more have been injured, so it’s clear that no kind person can support these events.
PETA India runs a 24/7 emergency response service that receives numerous calls every year about birds who have been injured or killed by sharp manja (and humans are killed, too), which is why we’ve successfully called for glass-coated or other sharp kite string to be banned outright across states. We ask people to use plain cotton strings rather than razor-sharp ones. And beloved dogs have become frightened and run away during loud fireworks, so we provide information on kinder options – such as quiet fireworks, which are becoming hugely popular worldwide – to keep various celebrations happy for all.
Article 51A(g) of the Indian Constitution mandates that citizens “have compassion for living creatures”. India’s cultural and religious reverence for animals has influenced people worldwide to protect animals, go vegan, and support animal rights. Many people visit India because they want to see the country’s wildlife living free in nature and because they admire the respect for cows and other animals India is renowned for. Those who fight against compassion for animals are no friends of India’s traditional values.
To learn more about PETA India’s work, check out these victories.
