Anupama Varma poses for PETA

Clutching a meat hook and with her naked body wrapped in cellophane – as meat might be – supermodel and actor Anupama Varma appears in a striking brand-new pro-vegetarian ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, released during World Week for the Abolition of Meat and just in time for World Vegetarian Day and Vegetarian Awareness Month.
The caption reads, Try to Relate to Who Is on Your Plate – Go Vegetarian. PETA and Varma want people to know that all animals, including humans, are made of flesh, blood and bone, that we have the same senses and range of emotions, and that eating meat is, literally, eating a corpse. The ad was shot by ace photographer Rafique Sayed.
"I hope my PETA ad helps challenge people to really think about what 'meat' is", says Anupama adding, "Eating flesh means eating the corpse of a tortured animal who did not want to die. We are encouraging people to try going vegetarian – for animals, the environment and their own health."
Animals slaughtered for meat are crammed into vehicles in such large numbers that many are severely injured or die en route to the slaughterhouse. The animals are hit, dragged, cruelly and illegally handled and often denied even basic necessities, such as food, water and veterinary treatment. At the slaughterhouse, they are killed in view of each other and are often dismembered and skinned while they are still conscious. Chickens are crowded by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds that reek of ammonia fumes from the accumulated waste. At the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut with blunt knives and their bodies are dunked into scalding-hot water for feather removal, often while they are still conscious.