Indian Government Must Reform Animal Transport and Slaughter, Says PETA
For Immediate Release:
21st August 2001
Contact:
Jason Baker (0) 98201 22602
Norfolk, Va. – Retail giants Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean, Timberland, and Casual Corner have told PETA that they will not purchase leather from India until the government there takes steps to enforce basic animal protection laws. The companies, along with Travel 2000 and German-based Bader, join a host of other international retailers—including Gap Inc., J. Crew, Liz Claiborne and Florsheim—which have shunned Indian skins since finding the mistreatment of animals killed in India for leather, documented by PETA, to be completely unacceptable.
An Eddie Bauer official told PETA, ‘Eddie Bauer is committed to not making products from animal skins and hides sourced from India until we receive credible assurance that India’s animal protection laws are enforced. At Eddie Bauer, we believe animals should be treated humanely under all circumstances.’
After receiving information about the cruel treatment of animals in India—where cattle are sometimes skinned alive in slaughterhouses—Bader, the leading supplier of leather to the automobile industry, informed PETA that it has no plans to buy Indian skins in the future. L.L. Bean offered a similar assurance, citing the ‘extreme cruelty’ of the Indian leather trade. Timberland said it would end its contract with an Indian tannery before 1st October.
The head of one of the largest luggage suppliers, Travel 2000 CEO Steve Latham, said his decision to boycott Indian leather came not ‘from a business standpoint, but a personal one. These practices are wrong and must stop at once.’
Although India has strict humane laws regulating the slaughter of cattle, making it illegal to kill the animals in most states, corrupt skin-traders use bribes to smuggle the animals across borders at night. Cows, buffaloes and calves are marched to slaughter for days and crammed into overcrowded trucks, which causes many to suffocate. Those who collapse from exhaustion or injury have their eyes smeared with chilli peppers and tobacco and their tails broken in an effort to keep them moving. At slaughterhouses, the animals have their throats hacked at with blunt blades in full view of each other and are skinned for leather bags and shoes, sometimes while still alive.
Says PETA’s India representative Jason Baker, ‘Indian officials are trying to sleep during this crisis, but we are determined to wake them. With the help of the world’s ethical merchants, the animals’ cries will eventually be heard.’
For copies of the companies’ letters, please contact PETA. For more information, visit our Web site www.PETAIndia.com.
