PETA ‘Bulls’ Get Arrested, Proposed Shareholder Resolution Gets a Remarkable Vote
This morning, police arrested five PETA supporters dressed as bulls after they cemented themselves at the entrance of PepsiCo’s headquarters. Today’s action is the latest in our campaign calling on Pepsi to investigate possible bull abuse in its sugar supply chain.
Watch the video here:
But the party to defend bulls was just getting started. Just after, we sent a shockwave through PepsiCo’s virtual annual meeting. We proposed a shareholder resolution and it detonated with 8.8% of the vote, an unusually massive showing for a first-time animal welfare proposal and enough to bring it back next year if Pepsi fails to take meaningful action by then.
Why Is PETA Blasting Pepsi?
Pepsi’s own policy says that ‘animals deserve lives free from physical and mental suffering.’
Pepsi’s bottlers buy sugar from Indian suppliers. In parts of India’s sugar industry, handlers beat and whip bulls, and force them to drag illegally loaded carts with up to 8,000 pounds of sugarcane in extreme heat. Some of these individuals collapse. Some die. PETA alerted Pepsi that cruelty to bulls violates its Global Policy on Animal Welfare in early 2025, but the company so far appears to have ignored the warning.
The Solution Already Exists
Many sugar mills already use eco-tractors, liberating bulls from backbreaking labor while also boosting efficiency. A single tractor can carry up to 18 tons of sugar per trip—far more than a bull-driven cart—helping farmers move more product and make more money.
Animal Rahat, a PETA-supported charity in India, has been leading the charge with its Sugarcane Industry Mechanization Project. The project replaces bull-driven carts with efficient, cost-effective tractors.
Thanks to these efforts, one-third of Maharashtra’s sugar production is now bull-free.
How PETA Keeps Up the Pressure
In March, PETA cranked up our campaign with a bold full-page ad in Crain’s New York Business, calling on the company to “Cut the Bull. Choose Cruelty-Free!”
After PETA Foundation attorneys sued PepsiCo over its attempt to block a shareholder proposal, PepsiCo reversed course in less than a day and agreed to include the proposal for consideration at this year’s annual meeting.
Bulls Are Individuals, Not Machines
Bulls are naturally social, gentle animals who form close friendships and protect their herd members. But in parts of India’s sugar industry, they’re treated like machines. Handlers force them to work long, grueling hours under the blazing sun without rest or water. They add barbed-wire spikes to the sides of the bulls’ faces and thick rope through their sensitive noses so that if the bulls “disobey,” slow down, or turn their heads, the sharp metal digs into their faces, and the ropes tear at their nostrils.
YOU Can Help Bulls in Seconds
Join the more than 60,000 PETA supporters who have already called on Pepsi to require its partners and suppliers to switch to modern eco-tractors.
PepsiCo can—and should—drive the transition to a fully mechanized, bull-free sugar industry. Urge Pepsi to require animal-free hauling across its sugar supply chain now:
