Sir David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday Gift: A Wise Indian Bull Who Helps People Appreciate Nature
In celebration of his devotion to helping people all over the world understand other species, fragile habitats, and the environmental cost of meat production, and to mark his 100th birthday on May 8, PETA UK with the support of PETA India has named a most engaging bull after Sir David Attenborough. In a letter sent to Sir David, PETA entities founder Ingrid Newkirk writes that Sir David Attenbullock was among the first cart animals rescued through PETA India’s Delhi mechanisation project, an initiative that replaces animal-drawn carts with electric vehicles so that overworked animals who have toiled under the yoke, observing life around them for years, can retire.
David Attenbullock enjoying his peaceful life welcoming visitors to a sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.
Sir David Attenbullock spent years hauling heavy carts through the chaotic, crowded markets of Delhi, streets familiar to Sir David, weaving through dense traffic and enduring long hours in the heat and dust, often without rest or water. He endured exhaustion, injury, and strain, but today, like Sir David, he has an important educational role, accompanying sanctuary visitors through a birdsong-filled orchard in Uttar Pradesh, allowing people to appreciate nature and get to know the lives and habits of the rescued animals there.
In the letter, Newkirk writes that Sir David Attenbullock, much like Sir David, is strong, yet gentle, and “… quietly inspires others to appreciate the richness of the natural world.” The now-elderly bullock’s name was chosen out of affection for Attenborough, and because, “He has a presence that draws people into his world, including visiting children. He invites visitors to the sanctuary to pause with him, and in doing so, they notice more – the birdsongs, the life moving through the grass and trees, and the many other animals who share his home.”
