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Photo: R. Ravindran

Catch them young Ingrid Newkirk

If Ingrid Newkirk’s questions are so uncomfortable, it’s simply because they’re so reasonable. Start looking at animals from the point of view of the co-founder and president of PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals), and you begin to see feathered and furry individuals, with feelings and emotions. “Be their guardian angels. We are important protectors and guardians of the environment,” she says, addressing a crowd of rapt children at Landmark Bookstore, Chennai, in connection with the release of her latest book, ‘50 Easy Ways Kids Can Help Animals.’

Between painstakingly signing books and autographs, Ingrid talks of how she was “raised as a big meat eater.” At the same time, she constantly adopted stray animals. “I just never made the connection,” she shrugs.

Then, she became a law enforcement officer in Maryland (USA). “I looked into cruelty complaints. I was once called to a farm where all the animals had been starved to death,” she says. Unfortunately, by the time she got there, the animals were dead. “Except for one pig,” she continues, “But he was so weak, I had to hold his head up. I gave him water in my hand. And he survived.” Then, as she was driving home, she says, “I thought, ‘What do I have to eat for dinner. Oh good, I’ll defrost those pork chops.” And that’s when it hit her. She had saved one pig, only to eat another. She turned vegetarian. In 1980, she founded PETA, the largest animal rights organisation in the world, to investigate, publicise and end animal cruelty.

So far, the organisation has exposed cruelty in animal laboratories, convinced designers and consumers to stop using fur and promoted vegetarianism, amongst other things. Ingrid’s tireless, vocal, passionate campaigning has been met with both admiration and disapproval, since PETA gets results, but animal activism sometimes borders on aggressive. Especially in the case of The Animal Liberation Front, (described as a ‘domestic terrorist threat’ in the U.K. and the U.S.), which Ingrid’s been linked to.

The ALF was recently involved in a campaign of arson and vandalism in Oxford to prevent work on a controversial facility for the university’s animal testing labs. “Anger’s fine,” she says, referring to Oxford, and add, “That’s the first reaction you get when you tell someone a home truth that they don’t want to hear. They get angry and defensive.” She continues, “Activism works. Consumers and shoppers have to be vocal. If you know something is immoral, it is your duty – as a citizen of the world – to protest.” She talks of over 600 companies that stopped animal testing just because people said “I’m not using it.”

As activists, Ingrid insists, “You have to have a gimmick… You have to have a celebrity in a cage, or wearing a lettuce dress.” Designer Stella McCartney works with PETA, as does Pamela Anderson, Alicia Silverstone, and in India, Jackie Shroff, John Abraham and Madhavan amongst many others.

Explaining why she’s written the book for children, she says, “They understand animals. They have a natural kindness and affinity for them.”

She adds that children are far less resistant. “Adults try and justify everything, it’s all about ‘my money, my business.’ Children’s concerns are more innocent.

The questions they ask are, ‘Does it hurt.’ Or, ‘Is this a real chicken on my plate?’ Children can see eye to eye with an animal. They find natural friendships. They realise, this is another individual.”

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