PETA India’s Cruelty Response Teams’ Top 10 Lifesaving Actions in 2025
1.Nationwide Animal Protection Interventions Led By Cruelty Response Team in 2025
PETA India’s Cruelty Response Division worked on over 6,000 cruelty cases in 2025. This includes preventing crimes, taking legal action against crimes committed against animals, obtaining legal custody of abused animals, and guiding and assisting the public in ensuring animal abusers are held accountable under the most stringent and relevant provisions of law.
2. Illegal Animal Races Prevented Nationwide
The team collaborated with law enforcement authorities across India to bust and cancel over 200 illegal races, sparing horses, bullocks, rams, greyhounds, donkeys, and pigeons from being injured or killed.
From stopping over 50 illegal Greyhound dog races in Punjab, and cancelling illegal horse and donkey races, ram fights, horse and bullock cart races in Dahanu, Nashik, Karjat, Sangli, Mumbai, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Belagavi, Dharwad, Bagalkote and Ludhiana, to getting an FIR registered against hosting an illegal horse-cart race in Sangli and stopping nearly 100 illegal pigeon—kabutarbaazi—race events in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.
3. 11 Horses Rescued Used For Illegal Carriage Rides in Mumbai
PETA India’s Cruelty Response Team intervened to ensure legal action against the owners of eleven horses in Mumbai who were used and abused for illegal carriage rides, facilitating their rescue and rehabilitation at a sanctuary. These animals were found in deplorable conditions—malnourished, exhausted, and suffering from injuries caused by neglect and overwork. The team also ensured FIRs registration against the illegal use of horse carriages in Colaba and the conduct of illegal horse-cart races at Gorai beach.
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4. Cracking Down on Animal Fights
Our cruelty response team collaborated and aided local officials in halting more than 100 unlawful animal fights—saving bulls, rams, dogs, and roosters from these bloody spectacles.
Timely interventions by the team prevented buffalo fights in Raigad (Maharashtra), Nagaon (Assam), Morigaon (Assam), Rajsamand (Rajasthan), Ram fights in Belagavi, Dharwad, Bagalkote, and Kolhapur, Bull fights in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and dog fights in Sonipat. Cockfighting events were successfully stopped in Goa and Sindhudurg, and legal action was facilitated against those who incited rooster fights in Deeg and Khairthal-Tijara, along with the rescue and rehabilitation of several abused roosters abused in these fights. Apart from preventing these acts of cruelty, the team also worked closely with local officials to securing FIRs against offenders—each action saving animals from suffering and reinforcing that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.
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5. Fighting Crimes Against Illegal Wildlife Trade and Abuse
Nearly 100 wild animals including Indian cobras, porcupines, soft-shelled turtles, parakeets, monkeys, turtles, and langurs were rescued from their illegal custodians and abusers. These rescues highlight the grim reality of wildlife trafficking and the urgent need to combat it to protect animals from exploitation.
The following were some of the highlights:
- Several langurs and rhesus macaques were rescued from illegal chained confinement in Faridabad, Mathura, Mahabubabad, Durg, Bokaro, Dharamshala, Patna, Jhansi, Raipur, Aligarh, Hazaribagh, and Vijayawada with preliminary offence reports and FIRs registered against offenders.
- Over 60 Indian parakeets were rescued from Roorkee, Gaya, Kolkata, Dharamshala, and Mumbai.
- Following PETA India’s intervention, authorities booked organisers of events unlawfully using wildlife such as Indian pythons and cobras for public entertainment in Gaya and Kharagpur (Paschim Medinipur), and criminal action was initiated for hunting wild animals in Kanker, Kurnool, Azamgarh and Hamirpur.
- Seizure of an Indian soft‑shelled turtle in Navi Mumbai and three porcupines in Siddharthnagar, along with registration of Preliminary Offence Reports against the abusers.
- Registration of FIR against a man for killing several Blue Rock Doves, and for killing Yellow-Footed Green Pigeons in Azamgarh.
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6. PETA India’s Ongoing Efforts Have Helped Numerous Animals Escape Cruel Conditions
In Sitapur, a pregnant horse beaten with a hoe was seized and rehabilitated, while in Meerut, one injured horse, four abandoned horses and mules, and another horse used for carriage work were surrendered and rehabilitated to Animal Rahat. Following PETA India’s intervention, Mumbai police seized horses in multiple operations—six in Shivaji Park, four in Sewri, and one in Gamdevi. PETA India secured interim custody of eleven abused horses and rehabilitated two more abandoned horses, who were sent to sanctuary care. Seven camels were saved from illegal sacrifice in Kashmir, and a buffalo calf was rescued in Telangana’s Jogulamba Gadwal. Deeg police registered two FIRs and rescued eight roosters from cockfighting, while Khairthal‑Tijara police booked 17 people for the same offence. PETA India’s efforts led to Mumbai police rescuing two rams used for fighting. In Guwahati, white doves and a goat were freed from a North East Sun circus, and in Agra three infant rhesus macaques used for performances were rescued. Many companion animals were protected too: two dogs beaten daily in Nagpur were rehabilitated to YODA, a Saint Bernard was rescued from neglect in Nagpur, and in Bangalore an illegal breeder was booked for cruelty, leading to the adoption of a mother dog and four puppies, alongside rescues of two more neglected dogs. A red‑eared slider was saved from filthy conditions in a Mumbai restaurant and rehabilitated to a sanctuary. Together, these interventions highlight the urgent need to ensure animals across India live with safety, dignity, and compassion.
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7. Preventing Animal Sacrifices
Be it preventing cruel sacrifices of seven camels ahead of Eid, thousands of chicks in a temple in Belagavi, cancelling the planned animal sacrifices in Kozhikode and Tumakuru, and preventing goats from being sacrificed in Rajasthan during Navratri to saving a buffalo calf in Telangana’s Jogulamba Gadwal temple and working with Kota police officials to get an FIR registered after a group of men beheaded a buffalo calf on Dussehra—PETA India’s cruelty response team left no stone unturned to ensure the abusers are spared.
8. Shutdown of Illegal Animal Facilities
PETA India’s efforts led to the rescue of 300 + animals who were found severely dehydrated and weak, with viral infections, eye problems, injuries, parasitic infestations from an illegal pet shop and breeder in Udupi and the closure of an abusive illegal-dog boarding centre in Thane.
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9. Nationwide Animal Protection Laws Workshops
In collaboration with police departments, animal husbandry officials, and local authorities, the cruelty response team conducted nearly 50 workshops attended by more than 3,000 officers across the country. These workshops were conducted in states and union territories such as Goa (as well as for South and North Goa District Collectors to tackle Dhirio bullfighting menace), Sikkim and Jammu; and significant cities like Pune, Nagpur, Thane and Palghar in Maharashtra; and Bengaluru, Belagavi and Hubli-Dharwad in Karnataka, equipping them with the knowledge to prevent and prosecute cases of cruelty to animals.
PETA India’s capacity building workshops for animal rights activists in Delhi and Mumbai were attended by Former AWBI Chairperson Dr O.P. Chaudhary, IFS (Retd.) and Former MP Poonam Mahajan, respectively.
10. Over 200 FIRs Registered for Cruelty Cases
Following PETA India’s interventions, more than 200 FIRs were registered nationwide. Significant victories included getting FIRs registered against cruel capture and unlawful relocation of over forty dogs in Indore, a youth was booked for chopping off a dog’s tail in Katihar, against torturing dogs for social media “likes” in Nanded and Pratapgarh, against blinding a companion dog in a pet boarding hostel in Thane, for killing cats by using them as bait to provoke violent attacks by dogs in Shahkot, against the beheading a goat to celebrate a film release in Tirupati, for killing a goat with teeth and bare hands in Siddipet as part of sacrificial rituals, against a man who bit off a hen’s head during a dance performance in Visakhapatnam, against the conduct of bull races in Thiruvananthapuram and inciting two rams to fight each other in Mumbai.
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None of these rescues or legal victories would have been possible without the compassion and swift action of PETA India supporters and local authorities who stepped in when animals needed them most.
If you ever see an animal in distress, capture photos or videos, note down key details, and alert the authorities immediately. If you’re unsure how to proceed, please reach out to PETA India for guidance. Your quick action could save a life.
