PeTA India urges K’taka to spare cows from slaughter, encourage veganism

Mangaluru: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) India has urged the Karnataka government not to amend the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to allow cow slaughter, and instead tackle the problem of cow overpopulation in the state, by advocating a vegan lifestyle.
“Such a move will protect animals, help the planet, and help improve human health,” stated Kiran Ahuja, manager of Vegan Projects, PeTA India. In a letter to K Venkatesh, minister for animal husbandry and sericulture, concerned over his statements regarding the slaughter of cows, Ahuja noted that Karnataka could help its dairy farmers transition to producing non-dairy milk using crops grown in the state, like cashew and millet. Also, the state could help its leather sector take advantage of the rising global interest in animal-friendly and sustainable materials, by making leather out of the state’s grapes instead of cow skin, she stated.
Ahuja noted that because cows and buffaloes must be pregnant or have recently given birth in order to produce milk, their bodies are repeatedly violated to be forcibly and crudely artificially inseminated. “As male calves cannot produce milk, they are considered “waste” by the dairy industry and are typically abandoned, left to starve, or sent for slaughter. When the milk production of female cows and buffaloes’ wanes, they, too often end up abandoned on the roads or at the butcher,” she said.
She said that adopting alternatives to cow milk will create new businesses and spare cows, and will also help protect from the climate catastrophe. Quoting ‘Our World in Data’, she said that cow’s milk has significantly higher impact than the plant-based alternatives, across all metrics. “It causes around three times as much greenhouse gas emissions; uses around 10 times as much land; two to 20 times as much freshwater; and creates much higher levels of eutrophication,” she added.
Advocating that vegan milks are better for human health, Ahuja said the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has stated that, “vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.”