Cruelty Crisis: Ailing Horses Rescued, PETA India and CAPE Foundation Say Heritage Style E-Carriages Needed NOW in Kolkata

With the swift support of Kolkata Police, two horses—one lame and with a back injury witnessed being whipped near Victoria Memorial, and another found collapsed to the ground under the Hastings flyover—were rescued after two First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 in complaints filed by PETA India and CAPE Foundation. Both horses were rushed to an equine sanctuary for veterinary treatment and rehabilitation.

Before Rescue

After Rescue

Before Rescue

After Rescue

The rescuers report that these two incidents reflect a widespread abuse crisis in Kolkata’s horse-carriage and “joyride” trade, with ailing horses forced to work despite injuries and in a state of starvation, and sick, starved horses being abandoned on the road, causing traffic hazards, as well as horses simply dropping dead from gross neglect and failure to feed or rest. Just in June 2026, PETA India registered three FIRs and rescued one horse from the Hastings area: one was a young foal found running frantically through active traffic, and another horse who was bloodied, adebilitated and left suffering from a long-untreated hoof injury. Since 2024, at least eighteen horses in Kolkata have reportedly died or ultimately succumbed to road accidents and other injuries. Among them, in June 2026, a mare with a severe forelimb fracture, bleeding badly, reportedly collapsed many times before dying, but was abandoned in the middle of a busy crossing in Ekbalpur.

On 7^th July 2026, following FIRs in Kolkata horse-cruelty cases and the death of 18-year-old Indian tourist Romanch Mahajan in a horse-carriage incident in New York City, PETA India had sent an urgent appeal to West Bengal Chief Minister Shri Suvendu Adhikari, calling on the new state government to replace horse-drawn tourist carriages in Kolkata with modern, heritage-style electric carriages, just as Mumbai has done to usher in a humane, safe, and forward-looking model of tourism. Action is still awaited.

 “Whipping an injured and lame horse on Kolkata’s busy streets is a stark reminder that vested interests are being placed ahead of both animal welfare and public safety. We are grateful to Kolkata Police for their prompt intervention and request that horse carriages be replaced with e-carriages, allowing Kolkata to lead the way in humane tourism.”

– Radhika Bose, CAPE Foundation Managing Trustee

Horses used for rides and tourist carriages in and around Victoria Memorial are routinely found anaemic, malnourished, injured, overworked, or collapsed from being forced to haul heavy loads and work on hard road surfaces. Many are abandoned when they are injured, sick, or no longer profitable. Malnourished horses with poor immunity, kept in filthy and unhygienic conditions, are vulnerable to diseases such as glanders, which can be fatal to humans.

The Calcutta High Court has already taken serious note of the poor condition of horses in the city, the prevalence of unlicensed hackney carriages, inappropriate shelter for horses, and the abandonment of ailing and unfit animals on roads, where they create traffic hazards. In its order dated 9 May 2024, the court directed the state government to develop a proposal for rehabilitating horse owners and providing them with an alternative livelihood to hauling tourists in carriages so that “dispensing with the horse-drawn carriages as done in Mumbai can be considered and examined for its feasibility”.