Dolphins don't belong in tanks, and India seems to be making sure that they won't be put there.

When PETA India and others learned that state governments were aiming to build dolphin parks in Tamil Nadu, Noida, Kochi in Kerala, and Maharashtra, we immediately got in touch with the Minister of Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan. We reminded her that the Animal Welfare Board of India has not issued any performance certificates for cetaceans and has decided not to issue performance certificates for cetaceans in the future – therefore, any attempt to import these animals for the purpose of display and performance would be in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and rules framed under it.

"In their rightful ocean homes, dolphins establish close, cooperative and long-standing relationships", says PETA India Corporate and Government Affairs Liaison Sarfaraz Syed. "They live in large, intricate social groups, swim together in family pods and can travel up to 100 miles a day. In aquariums and marine parks, these animals can swim only in endless circles in enclosures that to them are like bathtubs and are unable to engage in most natural behaviours. They are forced to perform silly tricks for food and are frequently torn away from family members as they're shuffled between parks."

This week, Natarajan announced that the ministry will not allow dolphinaria.

PETA will continue to urge state governments to drop their plans. You can help! Take action here.

Raise your hand if you think that the best way to celebrate someone is to kill and eat them. (If your hand is up, please don't come to my birthday party!)

Sounds ridiculous, right? But that is essentially what's happening at the Tamil Nadu Fish Festival, where some fish are being displayed in an aquarium for people to admire (not much fun for the fish), while others are being served up for festival attendees to eat (absolutely no fun for the fish). So PETA India fired off an urgent letter to the Tamil Nadu Minister of Fisheries asking him make the festival vegan instead.

In the letter, PETA points out that the Tamil Nadu Fish Festival also lacked permission from the Animal Welfare Board of India to display fish in an aquarium – which is all the more reason to drop the cruel idea entirely and make it a vegan celebration. Need more reasons? Fishing is horribly cruel to fish and many other aquatic animals, and it pollutes our oceans and rivers. Eating fish also puts your health at risk because fish flesh is contaminated with mercury and other heavy metals.

Our finned friends belong with their families and communities, not in tanks or on our plates. Please pledge to leave fish alone to live their lives in peace. Instead, you can enjoy humane, healthy and environmentally friendly vegan foods!

He pushed for enforcement of the ban on jallikattu and spoke out against Mumbai’s “dancing” monkeys. Now, John Abraham is urging the Ministry of Environment and Forests to help animals who are abused in India’s circuses. As a Bollywood actor, producer, and model, John chooses to perform – but the longtime PETA India supporter is quick to point out that animals who are held captive and used for human entertainment do not. 

John is appealing to Jayanthi Natarajan, the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, and is asking her to ban animal acts in circuses. And he didn’t mince words in describing the abuse that the animals suffer: “Unlike human performers, animals are forced to entertain through the use of fear, pain or hunger. Whips, clubs, hooks and other weapons are often used to inflict pain on elephants and other animals in order to force them to perform confusing tricks. Dogs are crammed into dirty cages, horses are kept tethered by short ropes, elephants are chained by their legs and regularly beaten in order to keep them docile, and birds' wings are clipped, denying them flight. When the show is over, the animals are forced back into their cages or are shackled or tied, loaded onto lorries and taken to the next town. They never get a break from this endless cycle of abuse.”

It is already illegal for circuses to use bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers, lions, and bulls in their acts. But as John points out, “no animal – no matter the species – wants to be chained, caged, hit or psychologically abused.”

Join John in speaking out against the cruelty of the circus by writing a letter to the editor of your newspaper, organizing a demonstration when the circus is in your area, and requesting that local officials cancel performances. Also, send an e-mail to the Ministry now.

After receiving inquiries from PETA India and People For Animals (PFA), the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body operating under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, sent an advisory to Kherwadi Police Station in Mumbai instructing the police to stop a three-day exotic-"pet" show featuring birds and other animals – organized by Babloo Aziz, a former Congress corporator, and scheduled to begin on 19 April – from taking place.

In the advisory, AWBI Vice Chair S Chinny Krishna wrote, "[P]lease note that prior permission of the Animal Welfare Board of India … is required for holding such an exhibition/show. The Animal Welfare Board of India has neither been approached for this permission which is mandatory under the Performing Animals Rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 59 of 1960, nor have we given any sort of permission to hold this show. May we request you to please see that this show is not allowed to be held".

On 16 April 2013, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 8, Mr Namdeo Chavan, called Aziz and confirmed that the show will not be held. PETA, PFA and Bombay SPCA officials also met with the DCP.

Bollywood celebrities Emraan Hashmi and Neha Dhupia, whose names appeared in the media as supporters of the event, have confirmed to PETA that they did not support it and were not even aware of it. Dhupia even took to Twitter and re-tweeted PETA's message confirming that she is not attending the show. Mahima Choudhry's and Sunil Shetty's names appeared on a billboard promoting the event, but when contacted by PETA, Choudhry was baffled because she did not even know of the event, and Shetty's office confirmed that he has already communicated to the concerned party that he cannot attend the event so long as adequate permissions are not in place.

You can help animals! Never patronise places that encourage the buying and selling of animals and take this pledge to adopt, not buy, an animal if you have the time, resources and commitment to give a dog or cat a loving home: http://action.petaindia.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=111&ea.campaign.id=6332.

They are successful models, smoking hot and compassionate at heart. Models-turned-actors Gauahar and Nigaar Khan recently posed shackled in double-decker cages to show that animals don't belong in zoos. Khan Sisters, a show that gives the public a peek into the lives of Gauahar and Nigaar, is set to air in January.

The Khan sisters said: "We as living creatures love our freedom and animals are no different. If people want to see animals, a zoo is not the best place. Instead animals should be observed in their natural habitat like animal reserves where they are living the life that they were meant to live. If we can't manage to visit them, we can learn about these amazing wild animals by watching videos, television programmes or by reading about them on the internet or in books and magazines and that's what we, the Khan sisters, are hoping the audience would understand."

We thank the duo for their support. You can help animals imprisoned in zoos by taking the pledge to boycott zoos! And don't forget to join the campaign to fight for animal rights by signing up for our Activist Network.

He can make the world go mute when his feet do the talking! Pandit Chitresh Das is a maestro and virtuosic performer of the Indian classical dance Kathak. After teaching and entertaining millions of people across the globe with his dance, the Kathak guru has now teamed up with PETA India to star in an ad about animals forced to perform in circuses. The ad has been shot by photographer Donald Barry Woodrow.

"Animals in circus[es] is old-fashioned entertainment", says Pt Das, who is currently on a visit to India for a Kathak performance. "Watching animals roaming in nature, they have their own dance and music. It's cool. Why interfere with that?"

We're thankful to Pt Das for speaking out against the use of animals in entertainment. Animals in circuses lead lives of constant confinement, chronic physical abuse and psychological torment. In addition to confinement and beatings, the animals are often denied access to water, food and veterinary care. Dogs are crammed into dirty cages and are hardly ever let out of them. Many birds have their wings clipped and are kept in cages so small that there is no room for them to fly, and horses are kept tethered on short ropes. Elephants are routinely tied by three legs and subjected to beatings with sharp steel-tipped ankuses.

Pt Das has won numerous prestigious awards, including the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts – the highest honour bestowed by the US government for a traditional artist. He is also the founder of unique form of dancing and exercise called "Kathak Yoga".

Help Pt Das and join us in stamping out cruelty to animals by pledging to boycott circuses!

Do you all remember the elephant Mariappan and how he was kept chained for many long years in a temple until local activist Radha Swami, PETA and other caring people helped get him moved to a zoo? We now have an update on the situation that we would like to share with you: Mariappan has now been permanently moved back to his birthplace!

Mariappan was initially moved to Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur and is now at Anamalai Tiger Reserve, where he was born. After 17 years of separation, he was recently reunited with his mother and has made many new elephant friends.

Our director of veterinary affairs, Dr Manilal Valliyate, says, "Daily walking, mental stimulation and the company of other elephants are essential to an elephant's mental and physical health, and we thank the Forest Department for seeing to it that Mariappan – who has suffered far more than any living being ever should – is now back home where he belongs".

Unfortunately, not all elephants in captivity meet a happy fate. There is a growing scandal over the way in which elephants used in temples are typically kept. They are chained and controlled through beatings and are prodded and gouged in sensitive areas behind their knees and ears with an ankus – a rod with a sharp iron hook on the end. They rarely receive enough food or water, and most of them never see a veterinarian, even when they are injured or ill.

We extend our full support and strongly encourage the Tamil Nadu Government to take action quickly on behalf of other temple elephants in Tamil Nadu who need to be rescued and rehabilitated.

Does the idea of an injured bull sitting in a wheelchair sound weird to you? Well, so is the spectacle of jallikattu. Two "injured" members of PETA India covered in bandages while lying in hospital beds protested against the cruel spectacle of jallikattu in Chennai. Another PETA member, dressed as an injured "bull", sat between them in a wheelchair.

Their point? Jallikattu – in which terrified bulls are kicked, punched, jumped on, dragged to the ground and otherwise tormented – is in flagrant violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and has caused injury and death to humans as well as animals. Because attempts to regulate jallikattu have failed profoundly, PETA India has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009, a state law that permits jallikattu.

Through this one-of-a-kind protest in Chennai, our campaign coordinator Bhuvaneshwari Gupta hopes to remind everyone that until jallikattu is banned, bulls will continue to be tormented and people will continue to be injured and killed.

Help us ban jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. Please write to the Ministry of Environment and Forests now.

Thanks!

The eternal beauty and Bollywood's original dream girl, Hema Malini, who continues to rule the hearts of millions of people around the world, has proved once again that she has a golden heart for animals. Besides being a legendary actor, Hema has been a long-time PETA supporter. She has helped us in our campaign to stop cruel horse-drawn carriages in Mumbai, and now she's got her sights set on banning cruelty to bulls used for jallikattu in Tamil Nadu.

After learning how fatal and cruel jallikatu is to humans and bulls, she immediately penned a letter to the Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, calling for the Ministry to take steps to stop the violent event. This letter comes just in time for the next hearing of the case that PETA India has filed in the Supreme Court against the the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009, a state law that permits jallikattu. In the petition, the group points out that the cruel "game" of jallikattu violates the spirit of the national Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and causes numerous injuries and deaths every year to human participants and spectators.

A recent PETA investigation of five jallikattu events documented that bulls were tied so tightly that it caused the animals severe discomfort and pain. The bulls were then hit with fists, had their tails twisted and pulled, were jumped on and were wrestled to the ground. Not only is jallikattu cruel to animals, it also poses a threat to public safety. In one four-day period in January 2011, 215 people sustained injuries during jallikattu events and two people died. Of those injured, 154 were spectators.

So all you fans and admirers of Hema Malini, please join her in urging Minister Jairam Ramesh to help stop jallikattu cruelty. What are you waiting for? Write to the Minister right now by using this link.

Thank you!

Jallikattu is a gruesome "sport" that is organised in certain districts of Tamil Nadu.

During this event, local residents chase and taunt frightened bulls in an attempt to grab prizes tied to their horns. The bulls are hit and prodded with sticks and other objects, pushed, kicked, hit and wrestled to the ground.

PETA will do whatever it takes to get this horrific event banned. We have filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009, a state law that permits Jallikattu, pointing out that this cruel event both violates the spirit of the national Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and causes numerous human injuries and deaths every year to human participants and spectators. PETA representatives discussed the issue recently at a news conference in Chennai.

Want to help us spare bulls from this cruelty? Please write a letter today to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu calling for a Jallikattu ban.

Have you been feeling lucky lately? You should, because we're giving you a chance to win a free 2011 PETA calendar. The calendar is full of beautiful portraits of rescued animals as well as the dates of important animal-related anniversaries and victories. It's inspiring, decorative and suitable for both the home and the office. But hurry, the contest is only open while supplies last.

How can you win? Simple: just post a comment below telling us what you think Ninja, one of the animals featured in this year's calendar, is trying to say in this picture:

Poor Ninja was confined to a small, filthy container until a compassionate person reported his plight to PETA India. Right away, our staffers went to the home, informed Ninja's guardian about the cruelty involved in keeping wild animals in captivity and convinced him to turn the turtle over to them for rehabilitation. Today, Ninja is living in a spacious pond with other turtles at a rescue centre.

This contest is now closed and the winners have been declared. Thanks for participating. Keep visiting our blog!