GUWAHATI: Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Thursday said unhygienic killing and selling of meats including exotic meats in Northeast is risking disease transmission amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among other meats, barking deer, wild boars, frogs, mice and dogs are being sold, some of them live in various markets, PETA said.
Releasing a new video evidence on the occasion of the World Vegan Month (November), the PETA said the video 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.
"Filthy, illegal meat markets torture animals and act as petri dishes. PETA India is calling on officials to do a sweep and shut them down, for everyone's sake," PETA India Advocacy Associate Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman said in a statement.
PETA claimed that at Nute Bazaar in Manipur, flesh of barking deer, wild boars and frogs were illegally sold and buyers and sellers touched the charred animal parts with their bare hands.
"In Senapati Bazaar, an illegally hunted deer's severed head was passed around. In markets in Nagaland, live eels, mice, frogs and birds were openly sold and workers handled dead animals without wearing gloves," it added.
Live dogs were also illegally sold for their meat with puppies being caged and older dogs' mouths being tied, the release claimed.
At Itanagar market in Arunachal Pradesh, meat of Mithun -- the state animal -- was openly sold.
In all markets, blood, sinew and innards were everywhere, it added.
PETA India said it 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.
"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," it added.