Filmmaker-actress Pooja Bhatt has been feted with The ‘Hero to Animals’ Award from the company, PETA, on International Animal Rights Day.
Pooja, daughter of the famous filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and Lorraine Bright, who is also known by her other name Kiran Bhatt, states: “I’m truly grateful to PETA for giving me this award. I thank my mother for inculcating in me the need to look at another creature with the same degree of empathy and love and compassion as I’d like others to treat me with. If only I could be that person that my dog really thinks I am. I try hard to be that person. I shall continue to speak up.”
The actress has supported the campaign of PETA India to ban horse-drawn carriages in Mumbai, has also supported a call to release the captive elephant named Malti who was relentlessly beaten near Jaipur, and has informed people on social media on how easily ‘manja’ can kill and injure birds.
She practices what she addresses by keeping meat of any kind of animals off her menu, adopting pets from the roads, and even helping to sterilize cats where she lives.
“Animals have an unflagging defender in Pooja Bhatt,” stated Sachin Bangera, PETA India Director of Celebrity and Public Relations.
Pooja has also received a trophy and a letter of appreciation for her work.
Previous recipients of the award include Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, for handing out funds for feeding animals of the community during the lockdown, Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain, for saving the lives of both humans and animals by banning every form of ‘manja’.
Others include singer Zubeen Garg for ending animal sacrificial rituals in Assam, Gaurav Gera, Rohit Gujjar, Shilpa Shetty, Zareen Khan, Cyrus Broacha, Rani Mukerji, Asin, and Imran Khan.
(With imports from IANS)