PETA India Founder ‘Skinned Alive’ in Mumbai in Protest Against Cow and Buffalo Butchery for Shoes, Bags
Shoppers and passersby in Mumbai met with a shocking sight on Friday, as PETA India founder Ingrid Newkirk was gruesomely “skinned alive” by a butcher as she protested that “We are all someones, not somethings.” The powerful demonstration happened in front of a massive banner featuring a slaughterhouse scene with the words “Relate to Their Fate”— delivering the message that cows, buffaloes, and other animals exploited for leather suffer fear and pain and fight for their lives, just as any humans would, and that humans must respect them and not reduce them to accessories.
Cows and buffaloes are fiercely protective mothers who exhibit complex social bonds and experience empathy for other members of their herd. Cows have excellent memories and can navigate and remember mazes quite well. When used for leather, these animals are often crammed into vehicles in such large numbers that their bones break. Slaughterhouse workers cut the throats of those who survive this ordeal in full view of other animals before dismembering and skinning them, often while they’re still conscious. Run-off from leather tanneries contaminates rivers and streams, harming all life there. Working in tanneries has also been linked to cancer, respiratory infections, and other illnesses in humans.
Vegan leather and other animal-friendly options are available nationwide in nearly all major shoe and clothing shops. The global “PETA-Approved Vegan” certification authenticates handbags, shoes, clothing, accessories, furniture, and home decor items made from vegan materials rather than animals’ body parts such as leather, silk, wool, fur, and feathers. Over 1000 companies worldwide are using the “PETA-Approved Vegan” logo to enable socially conscious consumers in India and elsewhere to identify vegan products at a glance while shopping.
