Body-Painted as Wild Animals, Activists in Hyderabad Urge Shift to Vegan Diet on World Food Day
The demonstration by supporters of PETA India, Vegans of Telangana and Citizens for Animals coincided with World Food Day on October 16 and Vegetarian Awareness Month.
Hyderabad:Animal rights supporters body-painted as a tiger, zebra and giraffe gathered in Hyderabad on Friday and called on people to adopt vegan diets to reduce wildlife habitat destruction, species extinction and the environmental damage caused by meat, egg and dairy production.
The demonstration by supporters of PETA India, Vegans of Telangana and Citizens for Animals coincided with World Food Day on October 16 and Vegetarian Awareness Month. Their placards read, “Eating Meat Contributes to Species Extinction - Try Vegan” and “Forests Are Destroyed for Meat Production - Go Vegan.”
“Today, vast swathes of beautiful forests are being destroyed to clear land for animals raised for meat, eggs and dairy and for the crops grown to feed them,” said PETA India Campaigns Coordinator Apeksha Tamane. She added that habitat destruction also worsened climate change and threatened wild species.
The organisation cited figures suggesting that farmed animals account for 59 to 62 per cent of the world's mammal biomass, compared with just 4 to 5 per cent for wild mammals. It said a third of global cropland is used to grow animal feed rather than crops for direct human consumption.
