Yana Gupta bares her heart for bear

Mumbai, June 20 (UNI) After promoting vegetarianism for People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA), Czech-born beauty Yana Gupta has now bared her heart for the bears as she thinks that the animal species is not meant for an item number of a Bollywood masala movie.

Clad in a black pleather outfit, created by Bollywood designer Rocky S, model-cum-actor Yana Gupta appears next to the tagline 'Bears Are Not Item Numbers' in a new ad for petaDishoom, the youth division of PETA India.

Shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar, the ad is part of the group's continuing campaign to raise awareness of cruelty to bears who are used for entertainment.

According to PETA, dancing bears are a common but tragic sight in India. When they are just one-year-old, cubs have ropes forced through their noses without any painkillers. During this process, a group of people hold the cub down while a red-hot needle is forced through the squealing animal's nose. A rope is then shoved into the piercing, which usually becomes infected.

''The wounds never heal and often become infested with maggots.

When the ropes attached to the traumatised bears are tugged, the animals lift their legs and dance,'' say PETA activists.

Under the 1972 Indian Wildlife Protection Act, it is illegal to capture and trade bears in India. However, PETA says, this law is blatantly ignored, and bears can still be seen on the streets of India.

In August 2003, PETA India helped rescue six bears who were being forced to beg on the streets of Mumbai. The bears were taken to a rescue centre outside Jaipur. The organisation was also instrumental in rescuing five more bears from 'madaris' (roadside entertainers) and taking the animals to rehabilitation centres.

UNI