Tag Archives: India

PETA Files Complaint Over Ad Featuring Parakeets

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a complaint against Samsung in India over an advertisement for Samsung\’s X200 mobile phone.

The advertisement shows two children releasing a couple parakeets from their cage. But according to PETA coordinator N G Jayashimha,

The parakeets used in the advertisement are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WPA) 1972. Trading, trafficking, caging or displaying the birds is banned.

Source:

Animal activists go cuckoo over bird ad. Prashant Shankarnarayan, Mid-Day.Com, January 4, 2006.

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India Considers Streamlining Animal Research Guidelines

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The Express Pharma Pulse reported in March that the Indian government is considering eliminating a number of obstacles in that country\’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which have seriously hampered animal research in that country.

The Ministry of Environment is currently examining recommendations made by an expert group to streamline and alter the existing procedures. According to Express Pharma Pulse,

According to the proposed amendments, such experiments using animals that will bring significant gains in the wellbeing of the people of the country will be allowed. This will be incorporated in the Section 14 of the PCA Act. While under the current Act animal experiments are allowed only for medical molecules study, the proposed amendment will allow genetic modification experiments, nutraceuticals study, experiments for genetically improved food, etc., said sources.

Not only that, penalty for major and minor offenses will be separated, the Act will be amended to enhance the fine to Rs 3000. For minor offenses corrective measures will be taken and licenses will not be canceled arbitrarily.

. . .

The Rules also will be changed to relax the norms related to import of animals and DGFT will be authorized to clear imports. If animals required is not available from a registered breeder or alternate legal sources within the country, genetically defined animals could be imported with permission from DGFT, except that non-availability will not apply for genetically defined rats and mice. Further, the Rules are proposed to be amended to recognize contract research under the law and such projects need to take due approval from CPCSEA sub committee for animal experimentation.

This would represent a major change for a country where animal rights influence has pretty much strangled biomedical research in the past few years.

Source:

Government to amend PCA Act to facilitate animal experiments. Jayashree Padmini, Express Pharma Pulse (India), March 31, 2005.

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PETA Targets Donatella Versace

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced in March that its India chapter would target Donatella Versace with billboards.

The billboards feature pictures of Donatella with the copy, \”Fur is worn by beautiful animals and ugly people.\”

PETA\’s Dan Mathews tells Indian newspaper Mid-Day,

Donatella\’s selfish, cruel nature is evident in the photograph, which is in start contrast to the gentleness and beauty of the animals whose skins were stolen for her shows.

Of course, Mathews is one of the uglier animal rights activists around, having in 2000 declared his admiration for the man who murdered Gianni Versace. A profile in Genre magazine that year noted,

When asked who is among the most important men he loves of the century, he replied, \”Andrew Cunanan, because he got Versace to stop doing fur.\”

Someone\’s got a selfish and cruel nature, and it ain\’t Donatella Versace.

Source:

PETA targets violence. Hemal Ashar, Mid-Day, March 20, 2005.

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Is PETA Training Slaughterhouse Workers?

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Here\’s an odd little item from India-based Express Newsline. A new slaughterhouse is being built in Delhi, India, planned for completion in December 2005. According to Express Newsline, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is involved in training workers at the slaughterhouse,

MCD will also be adopting more humane methods of slaughtering. A list of 100 butchers has already been sent to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for training on how to treat the animals. The abattoir will use methods like stunning and electric shocks before the animals is slaughtered.

Is PETA really in the business these days of training workers on the optimal way to slaughter animals?

Source:

PETA lessons for 100 Ghazipur butchers. Express News Service, February 2, 2005.

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PETA Once Again Simulates Cow Slaughter in India

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A brief little blurb appeared in India\’s Express News Service earlier this month that read,

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will organize an awareness campaign against cow slaughter on Tuesday at the Panchwati Circle on C G Road. Dressed as \’angel of death\’ and \’cow\’, PETA activists will enact the slaughtering of a cow to create an awareness about the ill-treatment meted out to the cattle.

Alleging that these animals are treated badly at the slaughter houses, PETA plans to spread the message that \’Leather is not vegetarian\’ and promote the use of goods made from synthetic material.

I just can\’t imagine a better costume for a PETA activist than the angel of death — maybe Ingrid Newkirk could dress up like that for Halloween?

Anyway, intrigued, I couldn\’t find much else about this specific event, but apparently PETA has been conducting simulated cow slaughters in India for quite some time.

A press release sent out by Jason Baker in February 2001 noted that PETA planned to stage a simulated calf slaughter to protests an abattoir in front of the Gateway to India, which is a popular tourist attraction in Mumbai. According to that press release,

To draw attention to the suffering of cattle at Deonar, an ‘Angel of Death’ will beat a life-like ‘bull calf’ to death, soaking the pavement in his ‘blood’, in front of The Gateway to India while PETA members hold signs reading, ‘India: Stop Cruel Cattle transport’ and ‘Close Deonar Now’. PETA is protesting at the Gateway, Mumbai’s top tourist draw, hoping to educate both local residents and tourists about the sad state of cattle in Mumbai.

Then in October 2002, PETA\’s Poorva Joshipura sent out a press release that PETA would do the same thing in Delhi to protest the government\’s failure to pass an animal cruelty law that PETA favored. According to that press release,

To draw attention to the suffering of animals during transport to slaughter, an ‘Angel of Death’ will beat a life-like ‘bull calf’, soaking the pavement in his ‘blood’ (red paint), at Jantar Mantar crossing while PETA members hold signs reading, ‘India: Stop Cruel Transport’ and ‘Vajpayee: Strengthen Penalties for Animal Abuse’. PETA is protesting in Delhi, hoping to encourage Prime Minister Vajpayee to pass legislation that would increase the currently outdated and ineffective penalties for overcrowded transport and other cruelty to animals. PETA also hopes to encourage officials to take tangible action to stop rampant beating and such severe and unlawful overcrowding of animals during transport that their bones break, they suffocate and many die.

I\’d love to see pictures/and or video of that.

Sources:

PETA to stage \’cow slaughter\’. Express News (India), February 15, 2005.

‘Calf’ To Be Beaten And Tortured By PETA. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, October 23, 2002.

\’Calf\’ Effigy To Be Slaughtered In Front Of Gateway To India. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, February 20, 2001.

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Indian Newspaper Claims Drug Research Is At a Standstill There Due to Animal Rights

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The Times of India published a story in September claiming that biomedical research in that country has come to a near standstill due to a committee run by animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi which is blocking almost all research involving animals.

Gandhi is a former government minister and animal rights activist who heads the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals. According to The Times of India, Gandhi and her committee are \”making it virtually impossible for medical scientist to use large animals for experiments\” in India.

According to the Times, for example, an Indian company was recently prevented from using 15 rabbits for safety testing of a new drug. It did the logical thing and outsourced the testing to a nearby country, the result being that the test was still done but at a higher expense and requiring more time to complete.

The Times also claims that the Committee has prevented tests designed to quickly diagnose virus outbreaks. According to the Times,

At the National Institute of Virology, Pune, scientist could not conduct any tests on monkeys to get quick results as they struggled to contain a mysterious outbreak in Andhra Pradesh which went on to claim the lives of some 200 children. \”The scientists did whatever they could in the laboratory. But tests on monkeys would have given some immediate results,\” says a senior Indian Council of Medical Research (ICRM official). The same story was repeated during another epidemic of brain fever in Assam.

Source:

Production of new drugs getting delayed. Times of India, September 24, 2004.

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PETA Launches Website to Target Very Short Adults In India

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Apparently People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently allowed an erroneous press release to leave its premises. The press release announced that the group was launching a new web site in conjunction with Bollywood Star Jackie Shroff targeted at India.

The press release had to be mistaken, however, because it gave the URL for the site as www.PETAIndiaKids.com and said that the site was intended for children.

Now, as we all know, Ingrid Newkirk is on record as saying that PETA doesn\’t target children but rather that everything it does is targeted at adults. I\’m assuming that rather than children, PETA probably meant that it was targeting short adults.

Otherwise, the obvious inference would be that Newkirk lies about PETA\’s methods and that just stretches the imagination to the breaking point, doesn\’t it?

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Vegetarian Indian Village

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KeralaNext.Com had an interesting report on the village of Bhubaneswar where all 500 residents have been vegetarian for several generations. The villagers have an impeccable logic for avoiding eating meat. KeralaNext.Com quoted local school teacher, Dharanidhar Das, 58,

We do not know for how long we have been vegetarians. The practice has been handed down over generations.

It began a villager who ate meat turned blind. Since then, none of the villagers have dared to eat non-vegetarian.

According to KeralaNext.Com, the villagers don\’t even allow meat or fish vendors to pass through the village and that their pets have also adopted vegetarian diets — when cats or dogs are offered meat, they refuse to eat it.

Source:

Superstition reigns supreme in vegetarian villages. KeralaNext.Com, January 16, 2004.

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Yvonne Taylor Claims She Was Assaulted at Fur Show

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Advocates for Animals anti-fur activist Yvonne Taylor claimed she was assaulted at the Chennai International Leather Fair while she repeatedly tried to storm the stage.

According to Taylor, she first walked onto the catwalk at the show carrying banners reading \”Leather Kills\” and \”Leather Is Murder.\” She was grabbed by security guards and removed from the stage.

After she colored her hair a different color, she returned to the show and tried to jump on stage while shouting animal rights slogans. According to Taylor, several guards grabbed her again and this time they physically assaulted her. Taylor told The Times of India,

[I was] physically lifted up and thrown out of the ramp by as many as six men. I was just one lone woman, there was simply no need for six men to grab me. The guards grabbed me from all sides, punched me in the face and pulled my hands in two opposite directions as if wanting to tear me apart.

A spokesman for the organizers of the show responded that the show could have had Taylor arrested, but chose not to,

We could have definitely put her in jail, but did not do so as we believe that in a democracy everybody has a right to protest.

Source:

British woman bounced off ramp. Times of India, February 4, 2004.

Scot animal activist attacked at fashion show. Sify News, February 3, 2004.

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