News Analysis India

Tag: PETA

  • PETA India asks governmentt to crackdown on ‘illegal dogfights’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: PETA India has written to the Union government to close down “illegal” pet shops, and breeders, and crack down on “illegal dogfights” held in many parts of the nation.

    PETA made the appeal in a letter to Animal Husbandry Minister Parshottam Rupala, and Animal Welfare Board of India chair OP Chaudhary.

    The global non-profit also released footage provided by the Fauna Police, showing lethal injuries that animals sustain in the alleged dogfights.

    “The footage shows how dogfighters train pit-bulls, Pakistani bully kutta, and mixed-breed dogs by goading them into killing wild animals,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement.

    “Puppies are provoked into fighting each other. The fights can leave the dogs so exhausted they can no longer continue or defend themselves. The dogs are encouraged to fight until at least one gets seriously injured or dies,” it said.

    PETA India’s Veterinary Policy Advisor Nithin Krishnegowda said that they have urged the government to join the “effort” to stop dogfights by making it “illegal to breed”.

    “Dogfighters choose secret locations. Anyone who sees or learns of these rings must be quick to report them to the police,” Krishnegowda said.

    In India, inciting dogs to fight is illegal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

    However, PETA has claimed that the illegal sport that involves “gambling and operates in secrecy”, is predominant in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Jammu.

    “Pitbull” type dogs are commonly bred for use in illegal fighting or kept on heavy chains as attack dogs, resulting in a lifetime of suffering.

    “Many endure painful physical mutilations such as ear-cropping an illegal process that involves removing part of a dog’s ears to prevent another dog from grabbing them in a fight,” PETA India alleged.

    NEW DELHI: PETA India has written to the Union government to close down “illegal” pet shops, and breeders, and crack down on “illegal dogfights” held in many parts of the nation.

    PETA made the appeal in a letter to Animal Husbandry Minister Parshottam Rupala, and Animal Welfare Board of India chair OP Chaudhary.

    The global non-profit also released footage provided by the Fauna Police, showing lethal injuries that animals sustain in the alleged dogfights.

    “The footage shows how dogfighters train pit-bulls, Pakistani bully kutta, and mixed-breed dogs by goading them into killing wild animals,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement.

    “Puppies are provoked into fighting each other. The fights can leave the dogs so exhausted they can no longer continue or defend themselves. The dogs are encouraged to fight until at least one gets seriously injured or dies,” it said.

    PETA India’s Veterinary Policy Advisor Nithin Krishnegowda said that they have urged the government to join the “effort” to stop dogfights by making it “illegal to breed”.

    “Dogfighters choose secret locations. Anyone who sees or learns of these rings must be quick to report them to the police,” Krishnegowda said.

    In India, inciting dogs to fight is illegal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

    However, PETA has claimed that the illegal sport that involves “gambling and operates in secrecy”, is predominant in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Jammu.

    “Pitbull” type dogs are commonly bred for use in illegal fighting or kept on heavy chains as attack dogs, resulting in a lifetime of suffering.

    “Many endure painful physical mutilations such as ear-cropping an illegal process that involves removing part of a dog’s ears to prevent another dog from grabbing them in a fight,” PETA India alleged.

  • PETA says unhygienic exotic meat markets in Northeast pose risk of diseases during Covid pandemic

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Thursday said unhygienic killing and selling of meats including exotic meats in Northeast is risking disease transmission amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Among other meats, barking deer, wild boars, frogs, mice and dogs are being sold, some of them live in various markets, PETA said.

    Releasing a new video evidence on the occasion of the World Vegan Month (November), the PETA said the video reveals filthy conditions risking disease transmission and rampant violations of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

    “Filthy, illegal meat markets torture animals and act as petri dishes. PETA India is calling on officials to do a sweep and shut them down, for everyone’s sake,” PETA India Advocacy Associate Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman said in a statement.

    ​ALSO READ | Meghalaya environment minister to get PETA award for ‘vegan leather’ initiative

    PETA claimed that at Nute Bazaar in Manipur, flesh of barking deer, wild boars and frogs were illegally sold and buyers and sellers touched the charred animal parts with their bare hands.

    “In Senapati Bazaar, an illegally hunted deer’s severed head was passed around. In markets in Nagaland, live eels, mice, frogs and birds were openly sold and workers handled dead animals without wearing gloves,” it added.

    Live dogs were also illegally sold for their meat with puppies being caged and older dogs’ mouths being tied, the release claimed.

    At Itanagar market in Arunachal Pradesh, meat of Mithun — the state animal — was openly sold.

    In all markets, blood, sinew and innards were everywhere, it added.

    PETA India said it has sent letters to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding these markets, urging them to take action against them.

    “COVID-19 is largely believed by experts to have stemmed or spread from a live-animal meat market and SARS, swine flu, and bird flu have also been linked to the practice of confining and killing animals for food,” it added.

  • PETA India asks Amul to switch to producing vegan milk

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has asked Amul to make a decision to switch to producing vegan milk.

    In a letter to Amul Managing Director R S Sodhi, PETA said the dairy cooperative society should get benefitted from the booming vegan food and milk market.

    “We would again like to encourage Amul to benefit from the booming vegan food and milk market, instead of wasting resources trying to fight the demand for plant-based products that is only growing. Other companies are responding to market changes, and Amul can too,” PETA India said.

    Sodhi, while replying to a tweet by Ashwini Mahajan, national co-convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, said, “Don’t you know dairy farmers are mostly landless.

    Your designs may kill their only source of livelihood.

    Mind it milk is in our faith, our traditions, our taste, our food habits an easy and always available source of nutrition.

    Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society managed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.

  • No reported case of COVID-19 transmission from animals to humans: PETA India

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Amidst the prevailing COVID-19 situation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has informed that there has been no reported case of transmission of COVID-19 from animals to human beings.

    While speaking to ANI, PETA India CEO, Manilal Valliyate said, “There is no reported case of transmission of COVID-19 from animals to human beings as of today, particularly from the companion animals like dogs, cats and also from the community animal.”

    However, the PETA official indicated that the vice-versa i.e. transmission of COVID-19 from humans to animals can be possible.

    “There are few reported cases of humans transmitting the virus to companion animals but there is nothing like animals infecting humans. The reason for a pandemic is human to human transmission,” Valliyate said.

    Senior Delhi-based veterinary Dr Ram Jatan also agreed that coronavirus is not transmitted from pet animals to humans.

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    “Coronavirus is not transmitted from pet animals to humans. Vaccine against coronavirus for dogs is already available and the strain of corona is different for dogs,” he pointed out.

    “COVID-19 has been detected in various wild animals, specifically big cats across Indian zoos. The samples have been sent to the Indian Biological Sciences and Research Institute (IBRI) for diagnosis,” Ram Jatan told ANI.

    He urged people to vaccinate their pet dogs and complete the booster doses and suggested that the people who are COVID-19 positive should separate themselves from their pets.

    On April 12, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that human health cannot be seen in isolation in an era that has increased interaction between humans and animals resulting in a need for ‘One Health’ approach.

    While releasing the journal of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s ‘One Health’ symposium, Vardhan said that “with increased interaction between humans and animals, human health can not be seen in isolation”, adding that COVID-19 is more than a reminder to that fact.

    “COVID-19 demonstrates the rapid spread of novel pathogens which can have a significant impact on the global economy. Preparedness for, and mitigation of such events require a ‘One Health’ approach,” the minister said.

    “The present international symposium is focused on ‘one health approach’ which recognises that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment,” he said.

    In April this year, two lionesses had tested positive for COVID-19 at Etawah Safari Park in Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, eight Asiatic lions housed in the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) Hyderabad have tested positive for the SARS-CoV2 virus.

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