• In late 1998, PETA received its initial complaint regarding the mistreatment of cattle transported to slaughter and a plea for help from a concerned Indian citizen.

• In February 1999, Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, who grew up in India, led a team to her old home to conduct its first in a series of extensive investigations. PETA discovered blatant disregard for animal protection laws and documented hideous cruelties. The team witnessed cattle being illegally crammed into overcrowded lorries with their legs and necks twisted in bone-cracking conditions, suffocating and gouging each other with their horns. These lorries careened speedily down bumpy roads for hundreds of miles to slaughter, with border guards being bribed as they exited states like Tamil Nadu. By the time the lorries reached the slaughterhouse, many animals were dead and most were severely injured. Invariably, live animals were found trapped under the dead. Many animals were forced to walk great distances to border areas, where they were loaded onto lorries to be carried across the border. These animals, strangers to each other and therefore in a state of agitation as well as distress from lack of water, food and rest, were tethered together by nose ropes and, in their panic, caused injuries to each other. Many animals collapsed during the journeys, only to be beaten and have chilli peppers and tobacco smeared into their eyes and their tailbones snapped at each joint in an effort to make them move by force of pain, oftentimes a physical impossibility.

• Ingrid Newkirk and her team immediately held numerous meetings with caring Indian citizens, nongovernmental organisations and certain government officials to discuss the findings of their investigation.

• PETA learned that there are an estimated 32,000 illegal slaughterhouses in India, generally ignored by the government and police, and 3,600 legal abattoirs, most of which are in deplorable condition, with absolutely no interest in animal welfare or in following India’s laws regarding transport, slaughter, hygiene and public health. It was discovered that the Indian leather industry earns 11 times more than the meat industry in exports, is more than a two-billion-dollar industry and produces 230 million hides and skins annually. The leading importers of leather from India were found to be the US, the UK, Italy and Germany. Most export meat is sold to Muslim countries and labelled as halal in contravention of Islamic teachings, which mandate kind treatment. It was concluded that the consumers in these countries, as well as the Indian meat and leather industries, must take responsibility for the unthinkable and illegal cruelty inflicted upon cattle, including cows and calves who were once revered by Hindus and are now just so much grist for the mill.

• Indian nongovernmental organisations informed PETA of the pleas they had been making for decades concerning illegal transport and slaughter of cattle, their repeated and ignored appeals to the Indian government and the lack of cooperation on the part of the police.

• PETA shared their findings with various experts, including Dr Temple Grandin, world-renowned designer of livestock-handling facilities and professor of animal science at Colorado State University, and prepared a report offering suggestions for the Indian government, as well as for meat and leather officials.

• In late 1999, Pamela Anderson, Hollywood superstar and long-time PETA supporter, agreed to appear in and narrate PETA’s video account of the shameful treatment of cattle in India.

Late 1998-1999

2000
January-February
March-April
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November-December


2001
January-February
March-April
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September-October
November-December