Stop using pugs in advertisements, PETA urges Vodafone
Mumbai: Animal welfare organisation PETA India on Monday requested telecom company Vodafone to stop using pugs in its advertisement, saying that the "not normal dogs" are always in pain.
In a letter to Vodafone India Ltd CEO Sunil Sood, the PETA said that the pugs are genetically compromised species with exagerated features developed to look cute but this that cause them constant pain including difficulty in breathing.
A recent Vodafone ad featured about 30 pugs.
"These dogs have become popular in India, thanks largely to your commercials, and are purchased by people who are usually unaware that they're severely compromised genetically by being bred for unnatural traits, such as tiny flat noses, bulging eyes, and folds of skin," People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) CEO Manilal Valliyate said in a letter.
Asking Vodafone to pass a policy prohibiting the use of animals, including pugs, in its advertising, he said that animals like pugs are used in entertainment where they they often become frightened and overwhelmed by the chaos, loud noises, bright lights, and countless retakes on film sets.
While the pugs typically face issues like dental disease, spinal deformities, intolerance of exercise, chronic irritation, pain, skin infection and eye problems, like lagophthalmos, or an inability to close the eyelid completely or to blink properly causing drying of the central cornea, he said they also have "an especially hard time in the heat... in India's climate - and are susceptible to suffering from heatstroke and to collapsing and dying in high temperatures".
"As a veterinarian and the CEO of PETA India, I'm writing to you on behalf of our more than 10 lakh members and supporters to urge you to stop using pugs in your advertising," he said in his letter.
PETA said that unaware of their pain and several possible medical conditions, people often buy pugs and in many case later dump them.
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Excise scam: ED seeks judicial custody for Kejriwal after he surrenders on June 2
New Delhi, May 20: The ED on Monday sought extension of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody after he surrenders on June 2 in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the application before Special Judge for ED and CBI Kaveri Baweja, seeking 14-day judicial custody for Kejriwal when he surrenders on June 2, claiming that the period of judicial custody granted earlier ends on Monday.
Kejriwal is out on interim bail till June 1 following an order of the Supreme Court, which has directed him to surrender on June 2.
The ED, meanwhile, told the court that there is sufficient evidence against Kejriwal and co-accused, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, to put them on trial in the case.
The central probe agency made the submission in support of its supplementary charge sheets filed against both the politicians.
The judge will continue hearing the ED's arguments on the point of taking cognisance of the charge sheets on Tuesday.
The judge, meanwhile, also extended till June 2 Kavitha's judicial custody in the money-laundering and corruption cases, lodged by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) respectively, in connection with the scam.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED filed a case on August 22, 2022, taking cognisance of the CBI FIR that was lodged on August 17, 2022.
