COIMBATORE: Members of Vegan India Movement staged a demonstration seeking personhood status for animals like goats, cows and buffaloes on Saturday. The members held placards and raised slogans against animal abuse and condemned the exploitation of animals for human interests. At the demonstration held near the South Tahsildar office near the Red Cross building, the activists also urged the central government for a complete ban on industries where animals are exploited.
“Currently, the animals like goats and cows etc are listed as livestock and they are being exploited for food, clothing etc. To prevent this the central government should give personhood status to these animals,” demanded Amjor Chandran, one of the organisers.
“Currently, there is no law against the exploitation of animals like artificial insemination or slaughter of animals. Though these are legal, legality does not mean rights. These animals are mainly exploited for food and for milk. India is the third largest exporter of beef. There are plenty of animal cruelty cases. However, the laws are not stringent,” said Amjor.
Kalai Arasan said, “There is no moral difference between killing a dog and killing a goat or killing a human. They all suffer equally and feel the same.”
Another protester Sangeetha highlighted the lack of awareness about ghastly inhuman standard practices in the animal agriculture industry, shedding light on the separation of mother and offspring in dairy farms, painful artificial insemination, confinement of cows.
Selvi Selvakumar one of the organisers expressed the need to recognise the basic freedom of animals that is their birthright. She emphasised the absurdity of profiting from the suffering of these sentient beings and urged the society to view animals as individuals rather than objects of pleasure. (Personhood is the status of being a person.)