Shuttler Jwala campaigns for PETA against cock-fighting

Mumbai, Aug 3 (IANS) India's veteran shuttler Jwala Gutta has starred in a brand-new campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India where she calls upon the public to support real sports and not cock-fighting.

The 32-year-old, who will compete in the Rio Olympics in the doubles category, posed in the campaign with a badminton racquet next to the silhouette of a rooster and the words "Badminton Is a Sport - Cockfighting Is Not".

"I hope that people take this campaign very seriously.You want to play a sport, play sports like badminton, cricket, tennis or any other sport, but not cockfighting," Jwala said.

Roosters raised for fighting are often confined to cramped cages and tormented to make them aggressive. Razor-sharp spurs are attached to the birds' feet to make fights more "exciting", bloody.

The birds often have their eyes gouged out and sustain broken wings and legs, punctured lungs, and severed spinal cords. Those who survive are forced to fight again. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, prohibits forcing animals to fight.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of PETA India and confirmed that forcing animals to fight was illegal nationwide -- but cockfights are still organised in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, among others.