Let's hear a big round of applause for our friends at Animal Rahat, a PETA-supported organisation dedicated to helping animals who are forced to work. Their efforts, along with PETA's, have resulted in the cancellation of a cruel bull-racing event in Satara, Maharashtra.

After learning that bull races were scheduled to take place in late August and early September in Aundh, Baghwadi, Kolewadi, Anjanapura, Bidal, Dhokalwadi and Padegaon in Satara district, PETA sent an urgent letter to Satara Superintendent of Police KMM Prasanna asking him to step in and stop the cruel – and illegal – events. PETA pointed out that during bull races, the animals are commonly beaten with sticks, which often have nails protruding from them, and that the races are illegal. The local police did their job admirably, stopping the races.

Thank you, Superintendent KMM Prasanna and the Satara police, for enforcing the law and common decency over the cruelty and greed that drive these spectacles.

Now that the Ministry of Environment and Forests has stated in The Gazette of India that bulls can no longer be used as "performing" animals, this means that cruel bull races are now banned everywhere in India. If you learn about any such events, please do everything in your capacity to stop them. You can also write to us at Info@petaindia.org, and we'll guide you through your efforts.

Don't you just love our over-the-top ways of protesting cruelty to animals? Now, in keeping with that tradition, our latest tactic was a stage takeover at the India Oil and Gas Review Summit and International Exhibition at the Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai.

The summit participants were taken by surprise when a PETA activist jumped onto the stage to urge some audience members – specifically, representatives from Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum – to replace bullock carts with a humane form of transporting oil.

Watch the video to see how this young activist continued to urge oil giants to take notice of the suffering of bulls until she was dragged out of the conference by the event organisers and escorted out of the hotel.

What motivated her to do this? In 2008, the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies, Maharashtra, decided to phase out the use of bullock carts to transport kerosene in Mumbai by 31 March 2009, and a Government of Maharashtra 2006 notification bans the keeping and movement of cattle in Mumbai. Despite this ban, approximately 524 bullocks are still used to transport kerosene from oil ports in Sewri and Wadala to rationing shops in the city.

These animals endure tremendous suffering – many bullocks are underweight and ill, kept in filthy conditions and forced to work beyond their physical capabilities, pulling heavy loads in all weather extremes.

Join us in ending the suffering of bulls. Take action to urge the oil companies to stop using bullocks!