Dia Mirza is PETA India’s 2023 ‘Person of the Year’

Notably, for PETA India’s life-like animatronic elephant, Mirza provided her voice. PETA India visits schools with the animatronic elephant Ellie to “teach children the importance of kindness and empathy for all”, and “encourages them never to support circuses or other venues that use elephants for entertainment”.

Mirza also supported PETA India’s petition to ban the use of all animals in circuses, the statement noted.

Recall that Mirza had joined PETA India’s campaign to end the killing of reptiles and other wild animals for their skins. The statement also went on to add that Mirza’s production house, Born Free Entertainment, received a Hero to Animals Award from the animal rights organisation for depicting the rescue of a homeless dog in Love Breakups Zindagi.

Taking to her Instagram Stories, Mirza wrote, “Ellie will always be special. Thankyou, PETA India.”

PETA India – whose motto reads, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.

Here’s the award (Source: PETA India)

Recently, speaking with indianexpress.com, PETA India director Poorva Joshipura said that while things are changing, a common response, when she tells people she helps animals, is for them to say we should tackle human problems first. “I believe animals are inherently worthy of respect. But with each question I have answered, I have been reminded that many people do not realise that the well-being of humans and other animals is intertwined. For example, animal agriculture is driving the climate catastrophe along with various forms of pollution and antibiotic resistance, SARS originated in a wildlife market as did likely Covid-19, and HIV and Ebola are thought to have been transmitted to humans who hunted other primates. Now, law enforcement experts tell us cruelty to animals is often a precursor to rape and other violent crimes against humans,” she said.

.@deespeak has been named as #PETAIndia’s Person of the Year for championing the cause of animal protection

Read: https://t.co/0pqtKxT8Vc#DiaMirza #PETA #PETAIndia #AnimalRights #Dia #ClimateChange #COP28 #Ellie @peta @PetaIndia #DhakDhak pic.twitter.com/eTMonk2wyK

— Delhi Times (@DelhiTimesTweet) December 13, 2023

Recipients of the Person of the Year Award include former Supreme Court Justice KS Panicker Radhakrishnan, cricketer Virat Kohli, comedian Kapil Sharma, and actors Alia Bhatt, John Abraham, Anushka Sharma, Sunny Leone, Sonakshi Sinha, R Madhavan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Hema Malini, and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja.