Kolkata: Take Part in PETA India’s Toilet Paper Mission to Highlight the Feeding of Human Waste to Fish

In honour of World Toilet Day (19 November), PETA India is offering a limited supply of specially printed toilet paper rolls with the message “Wipe Cruelty From Your Diet” to Kolkatans to leave in public restrooms in order to raise awareness of the popular practice of raising fish on sewage water from the city.

Each year, an estimated 10,000 tonnes of fish fed human waste are reared in the east Kolkata wetlands. Fish swimming in human excrement are said to have fed at least three generations of the city’s residents. The disgusting practice of selling sewage-fed fish has also spread to Bhopal, Chennai, and Nagpur. This method adopted by many farmers across the country is believed to help meet the huge demand for cheap fish.

To order a FREE pack of four toilet paper rolls, Kolkatans can write to [email protected] with the subject line “Toilet Paper” and their full home address in the body of the message. The toilet paper is currently available only to Kolkatans and will be shipped as long as supplies last. Participants who share with us (at that e-mail address) photos of where they left the toilet paper may have their images featured on PETA India’s social media pages.

It’s not just that feeding fish human waste is abhorrent. In addition, these farmed animals are impaled, crushed, suffocated, or gutted – all while still conscious. On fish farms, aquatic species are confined to cramped, filthy enclosures underwater. Parasitic infections, diseases, and injuries on fish farms are common. When “target fish” are taken from the sea, dolphins, turtles, and other animals commonly get caught in the nets as well, and their injured bodies are thrown overboard. Often, they succumb to swarming birds or slowly bleed to death.

That’s why PETA India recently put up a billboard in Kolkata featuring the image of a fish which reads, “I’m ME, not MEAT.”

More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined, yet they have few legal protections from abuse. Keep your palate and conscience clean and choose kindness by going vegan.