Mumbai: Animal rights organisation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has asked the UK-based Blackburn Rovers Football Club not to sell the team to what it called the 'abusive' chicken and egg company Venky's based in Pune.
PETA India has sent a letter to John Williams, chair of the Blackburn Rovers Football Club of the English Premier League, urging him to reject an offer by the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group (commonly known as Venky's) to buy the team, a release said.
Emphasising Venky's "appalling" animal rights record, the letter cites a PETA India investigation of Venky's farms which revealed that birds were forced to live in filth and amidst the carcasses of other birds who had died from disease. Some of the birds were crippled and barely able to walk, it said.
"The current owners of the Blackburn Rovers should have more respect for the club than to allow it to be associated with a company notorious for causing pain and suffering to millions of birds", PETA India Chief Functionary Poorva Joshipura said.
"By accepting money from Venky's, Williams would be promoting cruelty to animals," Joshipura said.