PETA EXTENDS LEATHER CAMPAIGN MORATORIUM INDEFINITELY
For Immediate Release:
2nd August 2000
Contact:
Jason Baker 98201 22561, JasonB@peta-online.org
MUMBAI –– People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advised the Indian Council for Leather Exports (CLE) today that it will extend its moratorium on campaigning against Indian leather exports due to a series of preliminary actions taken by the leather group to put pressure on illegal and grossly inhumane cattle transport practices.
In a letter to the Indian Ministers of Commerce and of Tourism, however, PETA warns that it has started preparing for what may be an equally commercially devastating campaign against Indian tourism. Although the Indian government has written some letters to the states and has claimed that funds are available for modernisation, PETA feels its response is inadequate given the enormity and immediacy of the situation. Video-taped scenes, photographs and eye-witness accounts show the suffering of Indian cattle en route to slaughter is extreme. BBC aired footage in the United Kingdom this week caused a deluge of calls from teary-eyed viewers who agree with PETA that action by the Indian government must be swift and immediate.
The Indian tourist business generates over 42,555 crores rupees in foreign visitor revenue according to the most recently available government figures. PETA is eyeing the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Goa, and Tamil Nadu (the originating point of thousands of illegally shipped cows, bullocks and calves who often arrive battered and broken at their destination outside the state) and has lined up travel agents and tour guides outside India to join the boycott should the government continue to move at a snail's pace.
Among PETA's requests are that the amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act be put before the parliament this session. They have been languishing since February 1999 and have been awaiting clearance by the prime minister. The amendments, among other provisions, would raise the penalty for violations, such as deliberate tailbone breaking and suffocation from overcrowding from the price of a chapatti at a roadside stall to a real fine. PETA is also angry that the Minister of Railways has refused to take any action against cruelty in train transport of cattle.
For a copy of our letter to the CLE, please contact Jason Baker at PETA India. Other information is also available at www.PETAIndia.com.
