Singing Cows Plead For Leather Boycott

by ANC Staff

The animal advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has launched an advertising campaign in India featuring a group of singing cows who urge Indians to stop wearing leather.

"Do I make myself clear? Keep your hands off my rear!" sings a cow during the 30-second TV ad.

The well known Indian voice artiste Chetan Shashital provided the voice for the Hindi-dubbed version of the ad.

"Peta's singing cows use humor to impart a serious message about how leather is seen from the animals' perspective," explained Anuradha Sawhney, PETA's senior official in India.

Hinduism reveres the cow as a sacred animal, and Hindu nationalists have been at the forefront of a campaign to ban the slaughter of cows. Most Indian states forbid killing cows for meat, although this law is said to be flouted on a regular basis.

But in many Indian communities, especially in the north-east and in Goa and Kerala, beef is seen as a central part of the diet.

PETA's investigation revealed that cows in India frequently endure beatings, mutilation, and a miserable death at the hands of transporters and slaughterhouse workers who choose to cut corners for profit at the animals' expense.

Many Indian cows and other animals are marched for days and given neither a sip of water nor a bite to eat. If the animals collapse from exhaustion, handlers twist and break their tails and rub tobacco or hot chili peppers into their eyes.

Most are crammed into trucks and forced to endure illegally overcrowded conditions. By the time they reach the slaughterhouse, some are dead, and many animals have sustained broken bones. The killers then saw dull blades back and forth across the animals' throats.

"These days, there is nothing holy about the treatment of cows in India," Sawhney said.

PETA hopes that the singing cow ad campaign will raise public awareness of cow suffering and persuade people to turn away from the exploitation of cows for leather.

Many celebrities like Alicia Silverstone, Nafisa Joseph, Drew Barrymore, Ruby Bhatia, Pamela Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix and Fiona Apple shun all animal skins and urge others to do the same if kindness is their aim.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.