Mumbai: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India founder Ingrid Newkirk will stage a symbolic protest in Bandra (W) on Friday where she will demonstrate on herself how animals are skinned alive. The demonstration aims to mark a protest against butchery of animals like cows and buffaloes for leather products.

Shoppers and passersby in Mumbai will be met with a shocking sight on Friday, as PETA India founder Newkirk will be gruesomely “skinned alive” by a butcher as she protests that “We are all someones, not somethings.” The protest will be held at the intersection of SV Road, Linking Road and Turner Road at 12pm on Friday.

The powerful demonstration will happen in front of a massive banner featuring a slaughterhouse scene with the words ‘Relate to Their Fate’. It will deliver the message that cows, buffaloes, and other animals exploited for leather suffer fear and pain and fight for their lives, just as any humans would, and that humans must respect them and not reduce them to accessories.

Newkirk, said, “Every leather bag and shoe is made from the skin of someone who loved their family, valued their life, and didn’t want to die. PETA India encourages everyone to choose only items made from beautiful vegan materials.”

According to PETA India, cows and buffaloes are fiercely protective mothers who exhibit complex social bonds and experience empathy for other members of their herd. Cows have excellent memories and can navigate and remember mazes quite well. When used for leather, these animals are often crammed into vehicles in such large numbers that their bones break.

Slaughterhouse workers cut the throats of those who survive this ordeal in full view of other animals before dismembering and skinning them, often while they’re still conscious. Run-off from leather tanneries contaminates rivers and streams, harming all life there. Working in tanneries has also been linked to cancer, respiratory infections, and other illnesses in humans, claimed the animal welfare organisation.

PETA India will encourage people to opt for vegan leather and other animal-friendly options, which are available nationwide in nearly all major shoe and clothing shops. The organisation also issues ‘PETA-Approved Vegan’ certification globally which authenticates handbags, shoes, clothing, accessories, furniture, and home decor items made from vegan materials rather than animals’ body parts such as leather, silk, wool, fur, and feathers.

PETA India claimed that over 1,000 companies worldwide are using the ‘PETA-Approved Vegan’ logo to enable socially conscious consumers in India and elsewhere to identify vegan products at a glance while shopping.