75 Ways You Can Help Animals for PETA India Founder Ingrid Newkirk’s Birthday – and Beyond

How will trailblazing PETA India founder Ingrid Newkirk celebrate her 75th birthday on 11th June? By helping animals, of course! And you can join her activism for animals with these 75 quick, easy actions that can make a huge difference for animals caged in laboratories, confined for meat, seen as shoes and coats, or forced to carry tourists in the heat.

Here are 75 simple ways you can help animals for Ingrid’s birthday and beyond.

Animals Used for Experiments

Right now, millions of animals – including mice, rats, rabbits, monkeys, cats, and dogs – are locked inside barren cages in laboratories. What can you do to help stop this? Don’t support companies that test on animals. Check out the PETA US global Beauty Without Bunnies database to make sure the household and beauty products you buy are truly cruelty-free. If a company you like isn’t on the list, urge it to partner with this scheme. To help advance animal-free science around the globe, donate to PETA Science Consortium International e.V. Most importantly, contact your member of parliament to support PETA India’s Research Modernisation Deal, which outlines a concrete plan to replace cruel, archaic tests on animals with state-of-the-art, human-relevant non-animal methods. Learn more about the failures of animal testing by watching the PETA US docuseries, The Failed Experiment, and sharing it with five people.

Animals Used for Food

The meat, egg, dairy, and fishing industries slaughter up to trillions of animals every year. Farms tear calves away from their mothers, cram birds by the thousands into filthy sheds, and subject animals to painful mutilations, such as tail-docking and beak-cutting. Pledge to go vegan, encourage five people to join you, and order a free vegan starter kit for your friends. (You can leave additional copies at a gym or grocery stores.) Prepare a vegan dinner for your non-vegan friends and family, patronise a local vegan restaurant, and ask your favourite non-vegan eatery to expand its plant-based options.

Animals Used for Clothing

Leather, wool, cashmere, down, and other animal-derived materials are all products of extreme cruelty. Workers slit cows’ throats for leather, violently shear sheep for wool, pull fistfuls of feathers out of birds for down, and forcibly tear out goats’ hair for cashmere. Pledge to keep cruelty out of your closet by not wearing any animal-derived materials, and check out this guide to vegan fashion for tips on how to dress with compassion. If you have leather in your closet, donate it to PETA India so that it can go to unhoused people or others in need. To help us continue our work to prevent animals from being used for clothing, buy someone a gift from the list of brands that sell vegan clothes and accessories and are “PETA-Approved Vegan”.

Animals Used for Entertainment

At zoos, marine parks, places where animals are used for rides, and other tourist traps, animals often languish in cramped enclosures or in chains, enduring constant confinement just so that humans can gawk at them. Many animals pace in their enclosures or swim in endless circles in tanks out of distress. Never use elephants for rides or support any other establishment that exploits animals and tell everyone you know to do the same. Be aware of sham rescues or seedy zoos that pose as “sanctuaries”. Pledge never to keep birds in cramped cages, and travel with compassion by never patronising activities that exploit animals.

Ingrid protests against Victorias, the horse drawn carriages in India. She has a bit in her mouth, pulls a carriage, and holds a sign that reads: “Horses Worked to Death. Ban Victorias.”

Companion Animals

An estimated 60 million cats and dogs are struggling to survive on the streets in India. Many of these animals go hungry, are deliberately injured or killed, get hit by vehicles, or are abused in other ways. Countless others end up in animal shelters due to the lack of good homes. You can help companion animals by supporting sterilisation in your community and pledging to always adopt dogs or cats, not shop for them. Educate others about the true costs of buying “purebred” dogs and how many of them – including pugs, French bulldogs, and other flat-faced breeds – endure long-term, debilitating, and painful health problems. If someone you know is still interested in getting a “purebred” dog, let them know that there are many of these dogs in shelters. Tell your neighbours why it’s wrong to chain dogs, and report cruelty to animals. If you see a community animal in distress, give PETA India a call.

Wildlife

Pledge to protect wildlife – including gentle rodents who make their way into your home and birds. Help end all sales of glue traps by urging companies not to sell them, as they are among the cruellest methods of killing animals. Share tips for humane rodent control with your neighbours, and tell your friends and family to use only humane rodent traps. Educate others about the cruelty of using sharp manja, and encourage the central government to ban all forms of manja.

Animals Used for Dissection

Schools and universities should foster a compassionate learning environment – not force students to cut open animals. If you’re a student or a parent, talk to your institution about why animal dissection is cruel and request that animal-friendly methods be used. Help Compassionate Citizen – PETA India’s humane education division – continue its work to help schools bring animal-friendly curricula into the classroom.

Other Ways You Can Help

Get inspired to push back against speciesism by reading Ingrid’s book Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries About Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion and find five interesting quotes to share with others. Donate to PETA India to help animals in the country. Help us expose cruelty to animals everywhere by sharing five of our investigations on social media. And join our Activist Network to continue advocating for animals.