New Training Videotape Launched in Andhra Pradesh, Other States to Join Campaign
For Immediate Release:
7 October 2001
Contact:
Jason Baker (0) 98201 22602
Hyderabad – At the request of Andhra Pradesh's director general of police, H.J. Dora, PETA has created a police training videotape to assist officers in cracking down on violations of anti-cruelty laws during transport of animals. Police departments across the state will show their staffs and trainees the new video, which is narrated by A.K. Bannerji, former joint director for the Central Bureau of Investigations. PETA is asking citizens to cooperate with the police by alerting them promptly if they witness illegal cattle shipments or overcrowding on lorries.
'We intend to enforce the laws, and we will use the information on this videotape to help. Anyone who abuses animals during transport should be very worried,' says H.J. Dora, the director general of police. 'This is a warning to those who transport and slaughter cattle: We will not tolerate beatings and starvation. We will not allow abuse of animals in any form'.
The video outlines typical violations of the law during transport, including beating, overcrowding, inhumane slaughter and withholding food, water and veterinary care. The video also details the animal protection laws the police are expected to enforce.
PETA documented grotesque violations of the law during undercover investigations that exposed India's cruel underground leather and meat trade. Corrupt skin- and flesh-traders use bribes to smuggle the animals across state borders to slaughter during the night. Cows, calves and buffaloes are marched for days without food or even a drop of water, in direct violation of the Constitution of India. Those who collapse have chilli peppers and tobacco rubbed into their eyes and their tails broken in an effort to keep them moving. Handlers then cram as many as 30 cows and buffaloes into lorries designed to hold only six to eight animals. The gentle cattle inadvertently gouge and trample each other during the drive over old and deeply rutted roads.
PETA also found that many slaughterhouses fail to set and uphold even minimum humane, hygiene, religious and legal standards for slaughter and animal-handling. Investigators have witnessed frightened buffaloes and bullocks being slaughtered in full view of each other on the floor, then shackled and hoisted upside down to be bled while still conscious. Diseased cattle and cattle injured during transport are left untreated.
In January 2000, PETA launched a campaign to end these abuses. Chrissie Hynde of the rock group The Pretenders led protests in America and Europe, where Indian leather is imported. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Jackie Chan and Kula Shakur musician Crispian Mills have written to the Indian prime minister asking for protection for cattle.
For more complete information on PETA's campaign, visit our Web site at www.PETAIndia.com.
