• On 1st March, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk sent a letter to the CLE, warning that if federal and state governments continue to move at a snail’s pace or ignore the world’s pleas that Indian animal protection laws be enforced and conditions for animals have not sufficiently changed by the end of May, PETA and its affiliated organisations worldwide would resume their campaign against the Indian leather industry. PETA promised that a resumed campaign would make the previous one look like ‘child’s play’. Letters were also sent to Prime Minister Vajpayee and national and state-level ministers of agriculture, animal husbandry, transport and commerce advising them of the May deadline, as well as to state DGP’s. Three more warning letters from PETA were sent to the CLE in April.
• French Princess Elizabeth de Croy joined the campaign by writing to officials of top importing countries of meat from India, urging them to pledge not to purchase meat from Deonar. The Princess stated that she refuses to visit India until conditions for its animals drastically improve. The Mauritius, Irani, Filipino, Malaysian and other governments thanked PETA for bringing the matter to their attention and assured PETA that they were not purchasing meat from Deonar.
• Major leather exporter Teja Industries advised its members not to purchase from Deonar, stating that as a major player in the international market, it could not condone unnecessary cruelty and abuse. Teja Industries is the sole supplier of leather to European retail giant Marks and Spencer and supplies leather to other major brands.
• Multimillion-dollar company Florsheim Group sent a letter to Minister of Commerce Murasoli Maran stating that it would consider purchasing leather from India again only if adequate steps were taken to rectify the cruel conditions in which animals are transported and slaughtered.
• PETA asked the CLE to arrange an animal-transport training conference in Tamil Nadu and to work to improve conditions at the Bangalore and Calcutta abattoirs. Other organisations began working with PETA to arrange animal-transport training conferences in various states.
• Legendary rock star Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders collected signatures for PETA on a petition with a ‘cow’ at India Gate. The petition will be delivered to Prime Minister Vajpayee and asks that cruel transport of cattle be ended.
• PETA distributed a report on methods of slaughter approved by Islamic law to agricultural and other relevant officials. The report was prepared by Dr Abdel Aziz-El Khayat, dean of the faculty of Islamic law at the University of Jordan, and approved by the World Health Organisation. The report states that animals must not be tortured or beaten prior to death, must not be killed with dull knives, must not be killed in front of their companions and must not be further mutilated before the onset of death. The report also states that stunning (a method used to decrease suffering during slaughter) is permitted by Islam. CLE representatives agreed to work to encourage the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board to publicly state that stunning is permitted by Islam, but no progress was made in this regard.
• The Bombay SPCA began cracking down on illegal transporters and abuses at Deonar. The CLE took BSPCA’s documentation to Maharashtra transport authorities to urge them to increase penalties for overcrowding animals, at least for repeat offenders. Nothing, however, has resulted from this action.
• PETA and representatives from the CLE and the Bombay SPCA met with the new municipal commissioner of Mumbai, Karun Shreenivastav, to discuss conditions at Deonar. It was evident that no concrete steps had been taken by the municipality to stop illegal transporters from bringing overcrowded lorries carrying injured and downed animals into the abattoir and that no steps had been taken to ensure that injured animals were immediately given relief from their suffering. No action had been taken against workers who were abusing animals, and animals, especially goats, were still being slaughtered in view of each other.
• In April, PETA, the BSPCA and CLE officials met with the management of Deonar abattoir several times. Each time, the Deonar general manager, Dr Vishnupurikar, pledged to make much-needed improvements but never actually took sufficient action. The CLE gave Deonar a deadline of 1st June to implement permanent guidelines stating that animals would not be killed in view of each other, lorry drivers would not be permitted to overcrowd animals and other necessary improvements would be made.
• A district-level committee, consisting mostly of those with an economic or other interest in the transport and slaughter of animals, was formed in Maharashtra to discuss amendments that should be made to the existing law regarding animal transport. PETA learned of this committee, asked to be made a member and was refused. Despite this, PETA attended its meetings and discovered that suggestions being made by the committee members regarding animal transport were tainted by the members’ economic interests and were not in the best interests of the animals. PETA, therefore, obtained advice from international experts in animal handling, transport and slaughter: Dr John Gripper of the World Society for the Protection of Animals and Ms Miriam Parker, adviser to the Humane Slaughter Association. PETA also studied the teachings of Dr Temple Grandin and the protocol on the transport of animals prepared by participants in the European Convention for the Protection of Animals During International Transport. Based on these efforts, PETA made its own suggestions to the committee.
• PETA President Ingrid Newkirk sent an open letter to voters via the media urging them to encourage their favourite candidates to consider animal protection a crucial issue that needs urgent attention.
• As an obvious result of PETA’s pressure, the minister of commerce, Murasoli Maran, finally sent a follow-up letter to state officials who attended the meeting in September regarding improvements in animal welfare and the enforcement of laws.
• The Bihar government announced that it is initiating steps for the establishment of state- and district-level animal welfare committees. However, nothing was ever reported on the actual establishment of these committees or on their efforts.
Late 1998-1999
2000
January-February
March-April
May-June
July-August
September-October
November-December
2001
January-February
March-April
May-June
July-August
September-October
November-December
