Khan sisters show their stripes

Nigaar and Gauahar Khan in a hot new ad for PETA

The PETA ad featuring Nigaar and Gauahar Khan

The animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has always come up with innovative campaigns to create awareness about the cruelty to animals. This time they have signed up the sexy sisters Nigaar and Gauahaar Khan, the stars of the UTV Bindass reality show ‘The Khan Sisters’ for an ad campaign in which the sisters appear wearing zebra-striped bodysuits while caged in a zebra-striped box above the words ‘Think Outside the Box: Boycott Cages, Boycott Zoos’. The ad, which will be featured in the January 28 episode of ‘The Khan Sisters’, was shot by ace photographer Gaurav C Bhat and styled by Hazel Paul.

"You don't learn anything from looking at a sad animal locked up in a zoo", says Gauahar. "If you want to learn about animals, view them in their natural habitats – visit a nature preserve, or watch a video or read a magazine about them. Don't support the keeping of animals in unnatural confinement."

Adds Nigaar, "Like people, animals need freedom. Instead of spending money on breeding animals or capturing them in the wild, we should be spending money on protecting the animals' natural habitats or on creating reserves and national parks where they can live in peace."

Hundreds of thousands of animals languish in cages in zoos around the world. Denied everything that is natural and important to them, these animals express their frustration and loneliness through obsessive, repetitive and even self-destructive behaviour such as pacing, head-bobbing and self-mutilation. PETA's undercover investigations in zoos across India have found appalling neglect, decrepit facilities and animal suffering on a massive scale.

The intentions are definitely good and while the two ladies posing weirdly in a cage might not make any difference to the conditions of the poor animals, it definitely makes for an interesting image doesn’t it?