PETA-India marks 25 years with protest against animal slaughter

In a dramatic demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Thursday, PETA-India director Poorva Joshipura, hung from a hook, with chains around her hands, clad in a skin-coloured bodysuit smeared with fake blood, standing alongside carcasses of a pig and a goat. The protest, marking 25 years of PETA India’s advocacy, aimed to highlight the cruelty of the meat, dairy and egg industries while urging people to adopt a vegan lifestyle.

“Humans have a choice — to be bullies or protectors,” said Joshipura. “Our ethical obligation is to leave animals in peace, and not reduce them to pieces. They feel pain and fear, just like us.”

She emphasised that animals such as pigs and goats had complex emotions and intelligence similar to pets such as cats and dogs. Yet, in industrial farming, they endured extreme suffering — pigs were stabbed in the heart, goats had their throats slit while conscious and male chicks and calves were discarded or killed because they were not profitable.

PETA also highlighted the environmental and health benefits of a vegan lifestyle, stating animal agriculture was a major contributor to climate change and water pollution.