Ingrid Newkirk Arrested During Protest in India to Raise Awareness to Cruel Sport of jallikattu

Ingrid was successful as she raised awareness to an act that many didn’t know existed.

Article:

PETA founder held in India over bullfight protest

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080118/
ts_nm/india_peta_bulls_dc_1

Fri Jan 18, 7:26 AM ET

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - Police arrested the head of the animal rights group PETA for a breach of public peace and insulting religious feelings while protesting against a bullfighting festival in south India, officials said on Friday.

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was held on Thursday after she blindfolded a statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi to protest against cruelty towards bulls in the ancient sport of "jallikattu."

Organized as part of the January harvest festival of "pongal," jallikattu is India's version of the running of the bulls which takes place every year in the Spanish city of Pamplona.

Fighters and muscular wild bulls -- often pepped up with large amounts of homemade liquor -- dash after each other in the streets of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Unlike the Spanish version of the sport, the aim is not to kill the bulls but to dominate and tame them, and pluck away bundles of money or other treats tied to their specially sharpened horns.

Police said Newkirk was held on charges of breaching public peace, hurting religious sentiments and damaging statues after she entered a park in Coimbatore town and put a cloth around the eyes of Gandhi's statue.

She then hung a placard saying: "Reject cruel sport jallikattu." She was released on bail.

Newkirk told Reuters she did not mean any disrespect to Gandhi but blindfolded his statue to symbolically shield him from the cruelty of the sport.

"In the name of taming of the bull, 10, 20, 50 people torment the animal and thousands cheer," she said. "You can see fear and confusion in the eyes of the animal as it tries to flee."

India's animal welfare board has also criticized the festival saying men beat the animals and throw burning chilli powder in their eyes, ears and mouth to enrage them.

India's Supreme Court banned jallikattu last year, saying it was cruel and not in keeping with what it described as the country's non-violent traditions.

But that ban was watered down this month, and the court said the popular sport could be held under strict government vigil.

Fighters and spectators have been gored or trampled to death, and the number of injured fighters has often run into the hundreds. The festival has been marketed as a tourist attraction in recent years.

Stars from India’s Hollywood – Bollywood – Join to Speak Out Against Animal Cruelty

Regardless of what most think, animal cruelty is alive and active in India. Thankfully some celebrities from India’s Hollywood are stepping up.

Article:

Bollywood Stars Want Animal Cruelty to Stop

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/211542/
bollywood_stars_want_animal_cruelty.html


By Jonathon Knight

Takeaways

PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Bollywood stars are lending their time and energy to highlight cruelty faced by India's animals. From being chained and caged, they want this to stop.

Rahul Khanna, An Actor Joined the lost list of stars, including Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and Madhuri Dixit, to publize the unfair treatment of animals.

Dressed up in a torn T-shirt and shackled in chains with bruises painted all over his body, he posed with the tagline "Beaten, shackled, abused - elephants do not belong in zoos" for PETA.

"It's a simple fact. When a celebrity speaks, people listen," said Anuradha Sawhney, chief functionary for PETA India.

"Every time a celebrity speaks out for a cause, be it for animal abuse in circuses, or their conditions in zoos, or the suffering in factory farms, a lot of compassionate people come forward to find out how they can help."

Sawhney said that PETA offices are often flooded with calls, letters and emails from people asking questions or asking for help.

On the behalf of PETA, Aishwarya Rai wrote a letter to save an endangered black rhinoceros in South Africa. Shilpa Shetty donned a body hugging, tiger stripped bodysuit and was urging people to boycott circuses. Madhuri Dixit wrote to the government in the support of Elephants.

John Abraham and dancer Rakhi Swant are the other stars helping out. Abraham was seen posing in an open cage, saying "Let birds fly free". Swant stood for 5 hours to have her body painted with tiger stripes for an anti-circus ad.

In their latest campaign, PETA, with Khanna, is promoting awareness of treatment of elephants in cities and zoos.

Elephants are often ill-treated in cities, in which they are used by their ownes to beg and are poorly fed and are forced to walk on tarmac roads day and night, says Animal Rights Activists.

Activists say, In the zoos, the animals are separated from their families and sentenced to a lifetime of boredom, loneliness and abuse. Adding that elephants are intelligent, sensitive and social creatures which live in closely knit family groups.

"These majestic animals belong in the wild, but instead they are locked up like criminals -- even though they've committed no crime," said Khanna.

Protected and considered an endangered species in India, Over 3,500 Elephants remain in captivity.

Sources-Yahoo, JK news