No need to protect animals on Eid, PETA India calls for ‘Leather free Rakshabandhan’

Animal rights advocacy group PETA has clarified that their Raksha Bandhan campaign in Ahmedabad featuring a cow urging people to give up leather for Rakhi drew ire that cows, too, deserve protection.

But what needs to be noted is that Peta India, unable to work productively towards the welfare of animals, is hypocritically asking a targeted audience which celebrate Rakshabandhan (mostly Hindus) who already consider Cow as a holy animal, protect them while ignoring the slaughter of animals on Eid which is rather around the corner and more logical.

 On Wednesday, netizens shared an image of PETA campaign from Gujarat which had an image of a cow with a caption that urged people to give up leather to protect the cows.

“Raksha Bandhan is a time for protecting our sisters, and cows are our sisters under the skin. Like us, they are made of blood, flesh and bone and want to live. The idea is to protect cows everyday and Raksha Bandhan is a great day to pledge to be lifelong leather-free.” said Radhika Suryavanshi, Campaigns Coordinator, PETA India to OpIndia.

On the social media outrage directed towards the campaign, Suryavanshi said that more than the campaign, what is offensive is that cows and buffaloes are crammed onto vehicles in such high numbers that their bones snap or they suffocate. “Those who survive have their throats slit with dull knives in front of their companions. We need to direct our outrage towards this violence instead of directing it towards PETA when we are trying to save cows only supports the abusers,” she said.

Not to forget, a few days back, Peta India put up similar billboards of urging people to turn ‘Vegan and stop goat slaughtering on Eid’ were taken down after complaints filed by Islamic authorities. They claimed such an appeal hurt their religious sentiments as Bakri Eid, wherein goat slaughter is a part of the ritual, is just around the corner.