Skin Trade – Indian Leather Investigation
From All Creatures Book and Video Review Guide

Narrated by Pamela Anderson Lee

Reviewed by Frank and Mary Hoffman

r-skintrade

Publisher:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
VHS Running time: 15 minutes
© PETA
To order
see: www.peta.org
or call: 757-622-PETA
or e-mail: [email protected] 
or write: PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510

Review:

It is a popular misconception that all cattle in India are treated humanely because they are considered to be “sacred.”

We used to think that, too. Then we had a rude awakening thanks to this video that we got nearly six years ago, and should be shown far and wide. This video documents the extremely cruel and illegal treatment of cattle by India’s meat and leather industries. Now, the next time someone tells you that India’s cattle are well-treated, you’ll be able to tell him or her the truth: thousands of cattle suffer horribly before they are brutally slaughtered in a hell on earth.

How much of that inexpensive leather clothing we see everywhere has its origin in this cruel, sneaky skin trade? Because a leather coat or other piece of clothing is labeled, for example, “Made in Italy” (or any other country) does not necessarily mean that the leather is from that country. No wonder there is such a glut of cheap leather goods!

From the VIDEO cover:

Responding to complaints of animal abuse in India, Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’S founder and president, led a team of investigators to her childhood home to document the cruel and illegal treatment of cattle by India’s meat and leather industries.

Indian cattle, once revered as symbols of motherhood and givers of life, are now beaten mercilessly in forced marches over hundreds of kilometers and transported to slaughter in appalling conditions, crammed on top of each other in trucks in the stifling Indian heat. They trample and gouge each other with their horns and suffer and die from asphyxiation.

During the long journey, the cattle collapse from hunger, exhaustion, injury, and despair. Handlers force them along by breaking their tails at each joint and rubbing chilies and tobacco into their eyes.

By the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse, some are dead and many are so sick and injured that they must be dragged inside. Once inside, their throats are sawed with dull blades in front of other cattle. Some have their legs hacked off while still alive or suffer the agony of being skinned alive.


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