Hollywood star Pamela Anderson, who will enter a TV reality show this week, shot a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging to reject all leather products.
Pamela in a letter to Singh said, “I am calling on person in India and throughout the world to join me in rejecting all leather products in order to help put an end to animal suffering. I am asking every individual never to buy leather shoes, bags, jackets, belts or anything else made of animal skin.”
Pamela is an active member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has taken up several causes for protecting animal rights.
“Illegal slaughterhouses operate with impunity throughout the country and municipal slaughterhouses have failed to follow the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The government has also failed to set up any effective scheme whatsoever to address this crisis,” the Baywatch star said.
India’s laws prohibit animals from being crammed onto vehicles in high numbers, ban handlers from smearing chili seeds into cows eyes and breaking their tails, hacking animals into pieces while still conscious, yet all this continues to go on, she said.
Leather products made from Indian animals are sold in stores worldwide. The two top buyers of Indian leather are the European Union and the United States.
“People make profits from the skins of animals who have been transported to and killed in slaughterhouses,” Pamela said.
“I love India and the reverence for animals held by most Indians. But yet one thing fills me with horror and that is the leather trade,” she said.
Pamela will enter TV reality show Bigg Boss as a celebrity guest this Wednesday.