AMISHA PATEL DECRIES ZOOS AS ‘PITIFUL PRISONS’
(14 September 2004)

Crouched and cowering in a barren, concrete 'cell' next to the tagline 'Zoos Are Pitiful Prisons – Let Animals Live Free!' celebrated actress Amisha Patel, who shot to fame opposite Hrithik Roshan in 'Kaho Na Pyar Hai' and won critical praise for her role in 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha', appears in a new ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India that focuses attention on the plight of animals in zoos. Ace photographer Ashok Salian and acclaimed dress designer Anna Singh generously donated their services for the advert.

“George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi … we had them. Animals don’t; they need us. Let’s fight for their freedom”, says Amisha. “Animals in zoos are robbed of their most precious possessions – dignity, freedom, and independence.”

Hundreds of thousands of animals languish in zoos around the world. Because these animals are denied everything that is natural to them, they express their frustration and loneliness through obsessive, repetitive and even self-destructive behaviours. An Oxford University study based on four decades of observing animals in captivity and in the wild found that animals such as polar bears, lions, tigers and cheetahs “show the most evidence of stress and/or psychological dysfunction in captivity” and concluded that “the keeping of naturally wide-ranging carnivores should be either fundamentally improved or phased out”. Captive Animals Protection Society reports that “surplus” animals are destroyed or sold and that zoos have even supplied animals to experimenters, circuses and the exotic-meat industry.

Says PETA India Chief Functionary Anuradha Sawhney, “The best way to help wild animals is by conserving their natural habitats and boycotting zoos and other attractions that exploit animals”.

This is not the first time that PETA’s campaign to reform India’s zoos has received support from high-profile celebrities. In 2002, model-turned-actor Rahul Dev posed for PETA’s “Imprisoned Cheetah” ad wearing little more than body-painted spots, and in February 2004, world-renowned sitarist Anoushka Shankar performed exclusively for PETA to raise awareness of the plight of animals in zoos.

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