Respect Womanhood In All Animals: Odisha Activist Purbi Patra

Bhubaneswar: As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, Purbi Patra, an animal lover from Odisha, says the spirit of gender equality should be extended towards ‘female animals’ as well.

A bod woman, Purbi broke convention by quitting her respectable and well-paid job in Delhi to serve stray animals.

In 2015, Purbi left her job of an assistant professor and returned to her hometown in Bhubaneswar to start Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra (AWTE) for providing shelter and care to abandoned and sick animals.

Not many have the audacity and willingness to take up a job where they have to serve and look after filthy and ailing stray animals. But no so for this 36-year-old crusader who overcame all odds to serve the ‘less fortunate’.

Speaking to Odisha Bytes, Purbi highlighted the cruelties that humans inflict upon the female species of animals for their personal benefits.

She revealed that cows are given oxytocin injections for milk secretion. “This painful injection is harmful for both cows as well as humans who consume the milk containing oxytocin,” she said.

Purbi also condemned the practice of forcefully impregnating cows to produce calves. “This forceful impregnation is equivalent to raping the animals,” she added.

She talked about how female dogs and hens are crammed up in cages for producing babies so that they can be sold later.

Urging humans to stop these cruel practices against animals, Purbi took on the occasion of International Women’s Day to appeal to everyone to treat animals, especially the females, with love and respect.

“We should respect womanhood among all species; not only among human beings, but animals too. We should respect motherhood in all species,” she said.

The animal activist, who has turned vegan due to love for animals, also requested non-vegetarians to switch on to vegan meals for saving animals “who are also living beings just like us”.