SHOCKING NEW INVESTIGATION: WIDESPREAD ABUSE IN TAMIL NADU’S FLESH AND SKIN TRADE

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SHOCKING NEW INVESTIGATION: WIDESPREAD ABUSE IN TAMIL

NADU’S FLESH AND SKIN TRADE

PETA Undercover Work Reveals Illegal Practices for

Meat and Leather

 

Chennai – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

(PETA) India has released a report detailing the

gruesome findings of its new undercover investigation

of the transport and slaughter of cattle, buffaloes,

sheep and goats for their flesh and skin throughout

Tamil Nadu. These horrors still exist, despite the

fact that former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee

directed Indian state governments to enforce India’s

animal protection laws, particularly regarding animal

transport and slaughter, more than five years ago.

 

Ironically, Tamil Nadu is the home of Animal Welfare

Board of India (AWBI), the nodal governmental agency

authorized to implement the Indian Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960, and Rules framed

thereunder. The state accounts for 70 per cent of

leather-tanning capacity in India and produces 38 per

cent of leather footwear and components. Much of this

leather is sold to buyers in the United States and the

European Union.

The slaughterhouse investigations were conducted in

eight Tamil Nadu districts, including Chennai. Two of

the most travelled animal transport routes were also

investigated. Amongst other atrocities, PETA India

revealed that animals are transported in the state in

poor, crowded conditions and without valid health

certification. The investigation also showed that

animals are routinely dragged, beaten and otherwise

cruelly and illegally mishandled. None of the 14

functioning slaughterhouses investigated had either a

veterinarian or a manager who was actively involved in

the functioning of the slaughterhouse. Animals were

slaughtered in full view of each other, which is

illegal, and were not stunned.

 

Meat is typically produced in filthy conditions where

it is easily exposed to contaminants such as faeces

and urine. Slaughterhouse waste travels through open

drains and is dumped without adequate treatment.

Children work on the premises of some slaughterhouses

in the state and none of the slaughterhouse workers

are suitably trained in either animal welfare or

hygiene. Government health marks are applied on

carcasses by unauthorised workers, and meat is never

adequately checked for safety before it is sold.

 

Several municipal slaughterhouses were not in use

because of depleted infrastructural conditions. As a

result, animals are slaughtered illegally. In

2000-2001, Tamil Nadu had 183 slaughterhouses

registered with the relevant municipal government, and

19.69 lakh animals were killed to produce 390.40 lakh

kilos of meat. In 2003-2004, the number of registered

slaughterhouses in Tamil Nadu had been reduced to 119,

but the meat production increased to 466.70 lakh

kilos.

 

PETA India currently has a case pending before the

Supreme Court against the Union of India, each

state-level government and the AWBI for failing to

enforce animal protection laws and allowing

unnecessary and extreme suffering of animals who are

used for meat and leather.

 

Last November, the Supreme Court directed the AWBI to

report the steps it had taken to save animals from

cruelty. AWBI was then supposed to set up an

inspection infrastructure of slaughterhouses

throughout the country. However, there is still no

suitable inspection system for slaughterhouses in

India. The Supreme Court has also directed the

government of Tamil Nadu to address and rectify the

unlawful wrongdoings to animals used for meat and

leather in the state.

 

PETA India supports a promising initiative that was

taken up by the Council for Leather Exports in

Coimbatore and supported by the local government to

bring necessary reform to the cattle slaughterhouse

located there and the animal market at Pollachi. Major

infrastructure improvements have already been made as

part of this project. One worker training session has

already been conducted at the Pollachi market and

another is scheduled for the Coimbatore cattle

slaughterhouse. It is hoped that this project will act

as a model for other locations.

 

When PETA’s campaign to alleviate the suffering of

animals used for leather was first launched in 2000,

about 40 major companies – including Clarks, Next,

Adidas, Buffalo Boots, Gucci, Reebok, Nike, Kenneth

Cole, Gap Inc., Wolverine Worldwide and other giants –

stated that they would not use leather sourced from

Indian animals. The Indian leather industry reportedly

lost an estimated $68 million as a result of these

companies’ decisions not to support unlawful cruelty.

The campaign also gained the support of celebrities

all over the world, including His Holiness the Dalai

Lama, Sir Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Jackie Chan

and others. More recently, PETA has been urging

international retailers to financially assist animal

welfare reform efforts in India.

 

In August, PETA India and its affiliates called upon

the Council for Leather Exports to come to the

negotiating table by offering a draft Memorandum of

Understanding. The memorandum raises issues that are

considered crucial to animal welfare. It asks that the

Indian leather industry end its support of illegal

slaughterhouses that are operating without a license

from the relevant authorities; end its support of

municipal slaughterhouses that have been condemned for

animal welfare violations; take up at least three

projects a year to reform animal handling from the

market through transport and slaughter and move

towards procuring hides and skins by using only

markets, transporters and abattoirs that adhere to

India’s animal protection laws. PETA India is waiting

to hear back from the CLE regarding this memorandum.

 

“Six years after PETA initially investigated transport

and slaughter conditions in India, the same abuses

still exist despite promises for action made by the

government”, says N.G. Jayasimha, PETA India’s

coordinator of campaigns and legal affairs. “It is

high time that the authorities started taking animal

welfare and the health of the environment and India’s

people seriously. Right now, eating meat is as

hygienic as eating out of a dirty toilet.”

 

PETA India encourages consumers to help by refusing to

eat or wear animals.

 

For more information, visit www.PETAIndia.com or

contact PETA India at (0) 98704 52444 or

JayasimhaNG for a copy of the

investigation report, photographs or video footage.

 

 

GREATNESS OF NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS

CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED- M.K GANDHI.

STOP HUMAN AND ANIMAL SUFFERING - GO VEGAN

I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do

something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

Helen Keller 1880 - 1968

 

 

 

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