Released on = July 3, 2006, 12:42 am

Press Release Author = People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Industry = Apparel & Fashion

Press Release Summary = Today, PETA India and its worldwide affiliates are
re-launching a campaign to encourage retailers and consumers worldwide to boycott
Indian leather. This decision comes after a total lack of enforcement of the animal
welfare standards which were promised by the former Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee and late Minister of Commerce Murasoli Maran, a refusal by the Council for
Leather Exports (CLE) to stop its members from supporting illegal slaughterhouses
and CLE's failure to take sincere and significant action to alleviate the suffering
of animals used for leather. Today, PETA India will hold its first series of
demonstrations outside the Delhi International Leather Fair.





Press Release Body = For Immediate Release:

Contact:

N.G. Jayasimha (0) 98201 22602



PETA INDIA RE-LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BOYCOTT INDIAN LEATHER

Group Blames Government, Council for Leather Exports for Unlawful Cruelty to Animals



Chennai - Today, PETA India and its worldwide affiliates are re-launching a campaign
to encourage retailers and consumers worldwide to boycott Indian leather. This
decision comes after a total lack of enforcement of the animal welfare standards
which were promised by the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and late
Minister of Commerce Murasoli Maran, a refusal by the Council for Leather Exports
(CLE) to stop its members from supporting illegal slaughterhouses and CLE's failure
to take sincere and significant action to alleviate the suffering of animals used
for leather. Today, PETA India will hold its first series of demonstrations outside
the Delhi International Leather Fair.



PETA India investigations spanning seven years reveal that Indian animals used for
leather are transported in such poor, crowded conditions that their bones break, and
they often suffocate or die en route to slaughter. The animals are routinely
dragged, beaten and otherwise cruelly and illegally mishandled. At all municipal
slaughterhouses, animals are slaughtered in full view of each other, which is
illegal. Although it claims to have an Animal Welfare Reform Programme, the CLE
refuses to initiate any action to prevent leather businesses from obtaining hides
and skins - even from unlicensed, illegal slaughterhouses.



The CLE's Animal Welfare Reform Programme lacks the vigour and follow-through which
would be required in order for concrete and long-lasting improvements to be made in
animals' lives. PETA India and its affiliates put CLE's promises to alleviate
cruelty to animals to the test by offering a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU)
which spelled out specific actions which could be taken to reduce the suffering of
animals used in the leather trade. After sitting on the MOU for nine months, the CLE
ultimately refused even to negotiate with PETA.



In a letter to M M Hashim, chair of the CLE's Core Committee on Animal Welfare
Reform Programme, PETA Europe Director Poorva Joshipura points out that the CLE's
modus operandi is to try to keep the PETA campaign at bay while Indian leather
exporters continue to profit from the illegal abuse of animals without making real
improvements for animals.



"The Indian government has done nothing to stop the illegal abuse of animals in the
leather trade, and the CLE's programme is a sham", says PETA India Coordinator of
Campaigns & Legal Affairs N.G. Jayasimha. "We will stop this campaign only if we
receive a suitable response to our draft MOU and a plan from the CLE which we can
trust will be followed and which will have a real and positive impact on the lives
of suffering animals."



When PETA initially launched its campaign in 2000, about 40 major retailers around
the world began boycotting Indian leather. An estimated $68 million was reportedly
lost by the Indian leather industry 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.





Web Site = http://www.petaindia.org

Contact Details = Jayasimha N.G
Coordinator-Campaigns & Legal Affairs | People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) India

PO Box 28260, Juhu, Mumbai 400 049

(22) 26281880 | (22) 26281883 (fax) | PETAIndia.org