It was a strange sight on a hot afternoon. A woman was looking out of a cage, grabbing the bars with her fingers and pleading with strangers to not eat chicken. Strategically positioned on the pavement outside the Bandra outlet of a popular fast food joint, the woman was dressed in white trousers and shirt, a red scarf around her neck, to match the dummy chickens she was sharing the cage with.
Everybody from shoppers, security guards, policemen, and passers-by wanted a glimpse of her. For many, it was a funny sight — a foreigner crouched in a cage on a dirty pavement, asking people to go vegan. A police officer joked, “It would have been more fun if the chickens were real and moved about the cage!”
But, to the woman in the cage, it was a protest against the cruelty meted out to the chicken. “Don’t think of them as just things ready to become food. Think of them as individuals like you,” she pleaded. “Why are these birds treated like trash?Chickens have wonderful personality. They are quite shy by nature.”
To many, Ingrid Newkirk, — animal rights activist and the founder of PETA — is a “monster”, an extremist; to others she is a crusader, an idol. “What’s wrong with being an activist? It’s the only thing that’s ever changed the world. So hurray!” exclaims the 65-year-old that’s both earnest and sarcastic. “Why do you want to be a nothing-burger? Why do you want to just sit at home and not say anything?”
Ingrid spent some years in India during her father’s tenure as a navigational engineer in New Delhi. And those years were significant for having sparked off the animal-sympathiser in her. One incident in particular stands out — some boys had tied a dog’s legs, stuffed his mouth with mud before trying to drown it. Ingrid’s intervention was in vain; the dog died in her arms. “I’ll never forget that incident. When we had to go back to England, I promised myself that I would come back and start a group to help the animals in India.”
What came next? “I became a teenager and I forgot.” But time soon she learnt that cruelty exists everywhere. “I found so much cruelty in the West and, since I happened to be there, I started PETA there.” From five people in a basement in 1980, PETA has now grown to become the largest and the most popular animal rights organisation in the world — 300 employees, international offices across continents, three million members and counting. It was the famous 1981 Silver Spring Monkeys case that enabled PETA to ink itself into the memory and conscience of people; societies suddenly became aware of animal rights, corporations were taking a double check and small-time activists now had a larger platform.
Their subsequent campaigns and protests involving a lot of shock-value and “naked women” made them a global force. “Our images are shocking but they are the truthful. We are grown ups. Don’t hide it from us. Let’s look at the truth and decide. I never want to be rude or mean to anybody. I grew up eating animals too and I didn’t think anything of it. And the first person who must have said anything of it, I am sure I must have said ‘No! That’s silly!’ But after a period of time, I was able to see the truth too.”
For a woman who has to deal with a lot of criticism and negativity, philosophy and wit seem to be a good trait. “Yes, it is hard and it takes a while to get used to. But then I realised it’s not me that they are attacking; it’s the idea that I am asking them to consider. And that might be to break a habit. My job is not to look at the negativity but to think they don’t really mean to attack me. It’s the idea that is new to them.”
As for sarcasm: “Why humans can’t eat animals, when animals eat other animals, you ask? We eat vegetarian animals. People don’t eat a lion. They eat a chicken. They eat the cow, lamb... the passive, harmless animals who are themselves vegetarian. What kind of bullying is that? If you want to be part of a carnivore chain go fight a lion; let’s see who wins. You can eat him if you win!” She can go on: “Animals are naked, so take off your clothes! Animals don’t drive a car, so you don’t too! It’s like asking ‘She’s stealing, why can’t I?’ It’s stupid non-argument!”
Newkirk also offers a scientific explanation that that has something to do with long versus short intestines and canine teeth, but I am still mentally giggling at the thought of a meat-devouring friend fighting a lion so I don’t pay too much attention.
Ingrid has the reputation of never switching off from activist mode. “She can’t walk through an airport without accosting any woman who is wearing fur,” writes Michael Specter in The New Yorker . I am now curious; doesn’t that stress her out? “If I didn’t do it, it would stress me out. Once, you are tuned in you are like ‘Is there something I can do about this? Is this dog in trouble? Is the cat starving?’ It’s the same with children or elder abuse. I am all against that too.”
According to her, it all boils down to having a little empathy. “If you have a heart, then how wonderful it would be to try and do something little; wherever you can. It doesn’t mean that your whole life you think of nothing else. But I think it’s wonderful to talk to people about the fabulous change happening around the world.”
It’s this empathy that makes her relentless and gives her a sense of purpose that adds to her fierceness. Thanks to PETA, there’s awareness — if not complete abolishment of — animal testing, farm and shelter abuse, circus cruelty, leather and fur usage and more. But it can never be enough. “I wish we were a million times bigger. We cannot be everywhere. That is why we need everybody to talk, everybody to help and set a good example. There are a lot countries where you cannot speak out, but we’re lucky. We can do it here.”
