PETA India exposes Illegal Indian wildlife Markets, dogs sold for meat.
For Immediate Release: 19 November 2021
Contact: Hiraj Laljani; HirajL@petaindia.org
Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman; PradeepB@petaindia.org
Guwahati – As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and during World Vegan Month (November) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India is releasing its latest findings regarding dogs used for meat and wildlife meat markets in northeast India.
The video documentation reveals filthy conditions risking disease transmission and rampant violations of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972;
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960; and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The video footage is available for download upon request.
“Filthy, illegal meat markets torture animals and act as petri dishes,” says PETA India Advocacy Associate Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman.
“PETA India is calling on officials to do a sweep and shut them down, for everyone’s sake.”
At Nute Bazaar in Manipur, the flesh of barking deer, wild boars, and frogs was illegally sold and buyers and sellers touched the charred animal parts with their bare hands.
At Senapati Bazaar, an illegally hunted deer’s severed head was passed around.
At markets in Nagaland, live eels, mice, frogs, and birds were openly sold and workers handled dead animals without wearing gloves.
Live dogs were also illegally sold for their meat – puppies were caged, and older dogs’ mouths were tied shut as they were offered for purchase and slaughter.
At Itanagar Market in Arunachal Pradesh, meat of mithun – the state animal – was openly sold.
At every market, blood, sinew, and innards were everywhere.
PETA India has sent letters to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding these markets, urging them to take action against them.
Copies of the letters are available upon request.
COVID-19 is largely believed by experts to have stemmed or spread from a live-animal meat market, and SARS, swine flu, and bird flu have also been linked to the practice of confining and killing animals for food.
Last year, PETA India also released video footage of captured dogs killed and sold for meat in Nagaland, sellers in Manipur handling the charred remains of wild animals – including monkeys, wild boars, porcupines, and deer – and other incidents at other animal markets in the country.
A team from Assam University recently found that numerous primate species are being killed in northeast India over medicinal property myths.
The next pandemic could start in India (???)
All such markets are potential breeding grounds for and opportunities to spread zoonotic diseases (diseases that jump from animals to humans).
COVID-19, H5N1 bird flu, SARS, and H1N1 swine flu are among those zoonotic diseases linked back to the treatment of animals used for food.
The only way to make these markets safe is to close them.
Blood, excrement, and other bodily fluids can easily get on sellers’ and customers’ shoes and be tracked into homes. As the video footage shows, workers who handle the animals often don’t wear protective gear.
Flies swarm around decomposing bodies, and the countertops and floors are bloodstained from slaughtering animals.
PETA India has already written to the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare; Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying requesting that they close these cruel and dangerous operations immediately.
https://www.petaindia.com/features/help-us-shut-down-disease-prone-indian-wet-markets/
And I mean…There is an opinion (including among animal rights activists) that the coronavirus originated in the wildlife markets of Wuhan, China.
It’s an opinion – it’s not yet proven. Not because it is not possible, but because these live animal markets in China and Asia have generally not existed since yesterday, and certainly not since December 2019, when the pandemic broke out.
So we do not know whether “the next pandemic could start in India” and whether closing the animal markets alone will remove this risk.
Finally, the biggest problem in fighting the pandemic is the cramped habitat of many Indians. In some large cities, a third of the population lives in slums, and up to 30 people share a toilet or bathroom.
Access to running water is very limited.
What is certain, however, is that dealing with animals in such markets is particularly cruel.
And that such markets, no matter where in the world, are places of horror for animals.
THAT is the main reason why we need to end animal markets for wild or farm animals around the world.
If we don’t stop destroying nature through factory farming, deforestation, species loss, urbanization, climate change, agribusiness and wildlife trafficking (legal and illegal), then we will not win the battle against viruses.
My best regards to all, Venus
World Animals Voice 