FPJ Dialogue: ‘Animals Should Own Their Own Bodies, Milk & Skin,’ Says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk

Mumbai, March 14: Animals have recently become the centre of discussions from the streets to the Supreme Court. While the country grapples with issues related to animal welfare, the founder of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) entities worldwide, Ingrid Newkirk (76), spoke to Free Press Journal’s Dhairya Gajara about Supreme Court judgements, reclassification of leopards’ protection in Maharashtra, the pigeon feeding issue, veganism, laws against bestiality and more during her recent visit to India.

Q: What do you take away from the recent Supreme Court judgements about stray dog issues, in which PETA is also a petitioner?

A: The recent judgements are unfortunate. We need to be compassionate as a society and that includes the Supreme Court. As per Article 51(g) of the Indian Constitution, it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to have compassion for living creatures. It is cruel to shunt street dogs to shelters where they will only die in miserable conditions. The apex court should listen to the powerful arguments put forth by animal lovers. The animals cannot speak, but they do communicate in their own way.

Q: Do you think India needs a stronger, very specific law to penalise animal sexual abuse?

A: We've petitioned to have the law changed back for bestiality. Also, I believe artificial insemination of cows should be covered under this. It is being done so that you can take the milk that's meant for their calves. The cow doesn't want artificial insemination; it's rape. Vegetarians think that they don't kill, but these calves are put on the street to die or they are shipped away to be hurt. There's no retirement home for dairy cows. So much beef is exported from India. Everybody who drinks milk is killing. It's not vegetarian. The government needs to decide whether they want money or kindness. You should find a way to make money and kindness go together.

Q: How has PETA convinced global major fashion brands to change their products to prevent animal cruelty?

A: International trade is unstoppable but we're working with every single company. They are now getting vegan leather from cactus and feathers from temple flowers. Victoria's Secret was using six lakh feathers to create one pair of angel wings for a fashion show. We talked to them, showed them the ostriches being plucked and they changed. They shifted to artificial feathers. Almost all the major brands, except a few, are starting vegan material. They have all kinds of leather and you have to read the label to know that it's not leather. About 600 companies now use some form of vegan leather. Animal testing for cosmetics is not allowed in Europe and India. Recently, we put a vegan leather bag and vegan caviar at the Oscars. So, between anything exotic and basic, you can get vegan.

Q: How successful has PETA's campaign been to promote veganism in India?

A: I think the vegan message has the most obvious impact because now you can get vegan milk everywhere – coffee shops, airlines, everywhere. Young people are interested in being vegan. So when we started, nobody knew the word but now everybody knows the word. I think John Abraham and Raveena Tandon were a very big influence because they got their fan base to listen to us. They said that they're not wearing or eating animals anymore. Then all these young people thought about it. Even Amitabh Bachchan helped with the elephant situation and praised us. Bollywood not using animals in films and fashion designers saying no to angora, mohair, leather, exotic skin and fur got a lot of attention. This is all very influential.

Q: Has PETA faced any opposition from the meat and dairy industry for promoting veganism?

A: The only people who don't like us are the people who use animals to make money from hurting, killing and selling bits of animals that don't belong to them. The animals should own their own body, eggs, milk and skin. They're not ours to take and put into a cage, put on a chain, put in a dairy. This is supremacism. We argue for the animals but the meat, fur, dairy and the leather industry want to stop us. But they can't stop us because you can't stop an idea and ethics. You can't stop your heart and your head when they tell you something good. So I don't mind. If you're too stupid to diversify your business, to see where the future is, to see that you can get ahead of things by making something else, then that's up to you, but we carry on and we grow.

Q: Taking birth in a non-vegetarian family, what prompted you to turn vegan and also start PETA?

A: My family was a big meat-eating family but if there was a stray dog, my mother took it in. When we came to India in the 1950s, I met a lot of Jains and Hindus who were pure vegetarians. What I learned from them stayed with me. On my 19th birthday, when we went to a fancy restaurant, I wanted to eat lobster. I chose one of the live lobsters, which were brought to the table. The lobster was taken away and then came back in pieces. When I put the first piece in my mouth, I started crying because somewhere back in my mind, I recalled all the things people had said to me about living beings. I realised a lobster can't speak, so all they could do was move their antennae. I suddenly realised that I took it alive for this small taste that will be gone. That was the beginning. Then one by one, I took out the other animals and then I realised about the cow, and I took out milk, and I'm happy.

Q: How are people accepting and adapting to PETA India's movement to replace elephants in temples with life-size mechanical elephants?

A: Elephants have such a terrible life. Many of them are illegally imported from Assam after being captured in the forest. Male elephants are kept in temples for their whole lives with their legs chained, which usually eat into their feet while they're standing on concrete. They get cracked toenails, broken toe bones and ulcers. We have 23 temples now which have mechanical elephants so the tradition and the elephant both survive. They've been in a political rally. We had the first mechanical elephant in a wedding. The initial idea was greeted with skepticism because we were trying to get certain severely abused elephants from temples and they didn't want to do it. So there was a backlash about our interference but now everybody wants one. People are realising the pros of mechanical elephants. You don't have to have a mahout, feed it or do anything except a little bit of oiling once in a while. The children love it because it’s safe and they can come closer to it. The priests can ride on their back, they can be in processions, they can go here and there. They spray water, they give blessings. Everybody's happy.

Q: Human-animal conflict is rising in Assam from where elephants are transported to the rest of the country. How can this be changed?

A: When you have a choice, you should make the compassionate choice. You shouldn't just get out your gun and shoot or do something else that's quick but not decent. Things are changing in some parts. For example, the tourist bungalows set up close to a sanctuary near the Karnataka border are being removed to recreate the elephant path. We act like the land is all ours but we act like we don't care and seize it to make business enterprises. Business has to have ethics and a heart. It has to get along with other forms of life and other human beings. You can't just bulldoze houses of animals who have no strength to fight you. I don't know what the future is, but now governments are making some amendments which will help. But it is human encroachment that has caused it. So maybe less encroachment, some respect and some amendments, but wildlife trafficking isn't the answer.

Q: What are the areas in which PETA thinks there is a lot of work to be done?

A: We have not been successful with stopping jallikattu and kambala. We are banging our heads against the Supreme Court. All of this is happening in the name of tradition. What kind of tradition is that? Our investigations reveal that the men are beating the living daylights out of these animals. A buffalo is a slow animal; they just plod along, they don't run. They beat them to make them run and to win prizes. They're so distressed, with foam coming out of their mouths and their nostrils, and just their eyes wide with fear, shaking. Why would any man think that this makes them look better?

Q: There is still a big group of people who are not turning towards veganism. Is it because of affordability?

A: The basic pulses, grains and vegetables, all these wonderful things are vegan. I think India has the best vegan food in the entire world as the variety is enormous. Pulses, seeds, nuts, grains and fruits. A poor person doesn't need to buy some fancy vegan food or some packaged meat product. They've been diverted away from a very good, natural, healthy diet. The last thing a poor person wants is diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure or cancer. So natural and basic food, including spices, are all vegan. It's not a problem at all. When you change to veganism, you also become eco-friendly.

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Q: Alia Bhatt, who was named 2021 PETA India's Person of the Year, recently wore a full black leather outfit at the Milan Fashion Week. How do you look at these celebrities who continue to wear leather?

A: We come across reports that they're wearing leather or fur or feathers but it's not always real. Kim Kardashian redesigned her fur outfits with fake fur after Pamela Anderson, on behalf of PETA, asked her not to wear fur. Of course the celebrities make little slips but they are not Buddha. She (Alia) is vegetarian and she deserved the PETA Person of the Year title for pushing the vegetarian message. Now we talk to her about leather — if that was real, we talk to her about it.

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