People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal’s rights group, is once again on the troll radar for its post on Rakha Bandhan.
In its recent campaign, PETA urged its followers to protect cows and go leather-free for the upcoming festival. "This Raksha Bandhan, protect cows too," PETA wrote on Twitter.
Posters of the message were put up across various cities including Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kanpur, Patna, and Pune.
PETA, in its blog post stated, "We aim to raise awareness of the cruelty that cows, buffaloes, goats, and other animals endure before their skin is turned into shoes, bags, and other accessories.”
Netizens were baffled by this approach and questioned the outfit. One user wrote, “Why pick a festival which has nothing to do with killing of any animal.”
“First of all we don't need any special day to protect cows. Second leather is not used in Raksha Bandhan. It is because of these stupid behaviour people don't take @PetaIndia seriously. You all know that no leather is used in Rakhi but still you have to target this festival,” added another.
Here are some more reactions.
In a subsequent tweet, PETA clarified, “We didn’t say rakhis are made of leather. We said Raksha Bandhan is a good day to extend protection to cows who are our sisters under the skin by taking a pledge to go leather-free, for life. That’s a message all kind people can get behind.”
This isn’t the first time PETA has gone overboard with its campaigns to protect animals. In 2019, PETA started a campaign to stop sacrifice of goats, ahead of Bakra Eid festival. It put up billboards with a picture of a goat proclaiming "I am ME, Not Mutton. See the Individual. Go Vegan."
