With colleges across the country gearing up to welcome freshers with festivals organised by senior students, PETA plans to launch their campaign against cruelty towards animals in colleges around the same time, to draw attention of the youth. The campaign will also be launched in colleges in Kolkata.
In order to make the younger generation aware of the cruelty meted out towards animals, especially the male chicks and calves, by the food and dairy industry, PETA is starting Save The Boy Child, vegan campaign. It will feature informative posters, leaflet distribution, and a screening of a short video showing how these male animals – deemed "worthless" because of their inability to hatch eggs or produce milk – are discarded and killed, and will encourage students to turn into vegetarians.
"Since male babies can't be used for profit by the egg and dairy industries like their subjugated female counterparts, they're typically chucked out like trash, or killed," says PETA India CEO, Dr Manilal Valliyate. "PETA India is calling on young people to condemn this cruelty and go vegan," he adds.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to eat" – notes that a video footage that they have, shows how in many Indian hatcheries reveals male and other unwanted chicks are commonly killed by being drowned, burned, crushed, suffocated, or even fed to fish alive. Video footage of dairy farms shows that male calves are abandoned in the streets and left to starve, or sent for slaughter.
In addition to sparing the lives of many animals each year, people, who are vegan, reduce their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. Also, because of the disastrous environmental effects of the meat, egg, and dairy industries, the United Nations has concluded that a global shift towards vegan eating is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.