Heifer International’s ‘Give a Goat’ Program Called ‘Misleading’

New Video Exposé Reveals Goats Neglected, Slaughtered

For Immediate Release:
December 17, 2018

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

The eyewitness visited dozens of families in various villages earlier this year in Rajasthan, where goats donated by Heifer International are commonly added to those already kept by farmers to be used for breeding. The eyewitness observed goats held by families in overcrowded pens or tied up so tightly that they could barely move, kids with sticks jammed in their mouths to prevent them from drinking their mothers’ milk, and males—who could be the offspring of those donated by Heifer—castrated without the use of any anesthesia. Goats suffered from various ailments (including an infected udder), some had sustained fractured limbs, and one had a maggot-filled wound—none of which were properly treated.

“Charitable people think they’re providing a needy family with a cherished animal, yet goats commonly endure neglect and abuse and end up terrified on a slaughterhouse floor,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges Heifer International to end animal donations and expand its animal-free human-empowerment programs.”

“Helping the poor is an honorable cause, but doing so by promoting the unsustainable meat industry is never the answer,” says Sentient CEO Ronen Bar. “People don’t realize that when they are donating to Heifer, they are actually promoting animal cruelty.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—and Sentient point out that Heifer International is also a stakeholder in an organization that’s working to expand the meat industry in the region. Goats and their offspring in this community are routinely sent to local meat shops—many of which are unlicensed—or to faraway slaughterhouses in the searing heat, some even as far away as Dubai. At Indian slaughterhouses, they stand on blood-covered floors while other goats are killed in front of them, typically without having been stunned, as is required by law.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.