Raveena Tandon Joins PETA Protest Over Cruel Cattle Transport
For Immediate Release:
1 November 2002
Contact:
Anuradha Sawhney: 9820 122602
Mumbai – Raveena Tandon shows that she’s all heart in a new advertisement protesting the suffering of animals in transport. The actress, who won top honours for her role in Daman, was so disturbed by PETA’s evidence of abuse that she posed with Jamuna, a cow just like those killed for their meat and skins, to urge the public to ‘Steer Clear of Animal Cruelty’.
 |
| Click on the image above to view Raveena Tandon's new ad.
|
‘Jamuna and other animals like her are as gentle as their abusers are violent’, says Raveena. ‘Their abuse at the hands of corrupt skin and meat traders must be stopped.’
What has the Mast Mast Girl fuming? PETA’s investigation of the trade in cattle, goats, sheep and other animals reveals beatings, mutilation and a miserable death at the hands of transporters and abattoir workers. After they are sold at auction, many animals are marched for days and are given neither a sip of water nor a bite to eat. When they collapse from exhaustion, handlers twist and break their tails or rub tobacco or hot chilli peppers in their eyes. Most are crammed, in hideously overcrowded conditions, into lorries. By the time they reach the abattoir, many bones have been broken. The killers, most of whom have never been trained to kill animals painlessly, saw dull blades back and forth across the animals’ throats.
These abusive transport and slaughter practices are illegal, but corruption allows them to continue. Despite PETA’s pleas, to date, the federal government has not compelled officials to enforce the laws. Prime Minister Vajpayee’s only action has been to send a letter requesting that state officials fine violators of the law, but with no follow-up, the police in many areas accept bribes to look the other way.
Nearly 40 companies, including some of the world’s biggest retailers—Gucci, Adidas, Nike, Timberland, Gap Inc. and others—with policies against supporting unlawful abuse have informed PETA that they will not agree to use leather obtained from Indian animals, at least until conditions for them in transport improve. According to reports, this has cost the Indian leather industry an estimated US$40 million in lost contracts.
Raveena joins a growing list of celebrities from around the world who want the government to enforce its own laws, including Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna, Manisha Koirala and Juhi Chawla, Om Puri and Sir Paul McCartney.
