Inspection Committee Formed Per Calcutta High Court: Kolkata Horses Unfit to Ply Carriages

For Immediate Release:

19 September 2022

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Monica Chopra; [email protected]

Animal Resources Development Department of West Bengal Immediately Attempts Trick to Contradict Report, but Court Directs Suffering Animals Must Be Treated

Kolkata – A bench comprising CJ Prakash Shrivastava and CJ Rajarshi Bharadwaj ordered that the committee constituted per the Honourable Calcutta High Court’s order dated 22 August take all steps to provide care and treatment to the suffering horses who are used to haul tourist carriages. The court also acknowledged that steps need to be taken for better identification and maintenance of records for each horse.

In response to the order of the Honourable Calcutta High Court dated 22 August, the committee consisting of a representative from the Animal Resources Development Department (ARDD) of West Bengal, the Animal Welfare Board of India, petitioners PETA India and CAPE Foundation, and horse owners carried out a scheduled assessment of horses on 12 September in and around Victoria Memorial, the area adjacent to Maidan, and Hastings.

The detailed report submitted by the committee members establishes that out of the 50 horses observed for about more than five hours, 92% are extremely thin and have poor body condition, 100% had swelling on one or both hind legs, and 66% had swelling on one or both forelegs. A vast majority of the observed horses had various foot problems due to poor housing conditions and spending their lives doing gruelling work on concrete. The report, which includes photographs and records of each horse observed, states these conditions “would deem these horses unfit for hauling tourist rides or to be made to work”. The report also establishes that many horses are being used to haul carriages illegally, i.e. without the required licences.

Following this, the ARDD conducted an unscheduled visit on short notice on 13 September, and thereafter, it hurriedly created a separate two-page report which falsely certifies 24 horses at Victoria Memorial and in the Maidan area and 40 horses from Hastings as being in “good” condition. Yet during this visit, which lasted only 50 minutes, no actual inspection or medical assessment of any horses was carried out!

The petitioner’s representative, equine veterinarian Dr Naresh Upreti, included a handwritten note in this report stating, “I am not agreeing to this report.” He also submitted a dissent note to the ARDD explaining that the second report is bogus. Strong objections to this report were raised by PETA India before the court on 19 September, including that the two reports record contradictory findings with respect to the same horses in some instances, indicating that the 13 September report is a deliberate cover-up. It was also stated that the ARDD’s own representative signed the 12 September report, and the findings of that report cannot be superseded by that of the 13 September report.

“The official and detailed report submitted by the court-appointed committee members clearly advises that unfit and unlicensed horses should not be allowed to ply,” says PETA India Senior Legal Counsel Arunima Kedia. “The findings once again demonstrate the need to replace deteriorating horses with a non-animal alternative, such as a classic, environmentally friendly e-carriage. The ARDD’s attempts at a cover-up only serve to further emphasise its dereliction of duty and that the only way to bring these horses relief is to remove them from the streets right now.”

Numerous previous assessment reports by PETA India veterinary inspectors have established that more than 100 horses used for rides in the city are anaemic, malnourished, and chronically starved; some have suffered from severe injuries, including bone fractures; and many are forced to live amid their own waste on filthy, decrepit, and illegally occupied premises in the city, including an encroachment area under a flyover.

PETA India has compiled a factsheet of numerous road accidents in Kolkata involving these horses, illustrating the dangers of using them to haul tourists. Such accidents cause the animals pain and suffering and pose safety risks to the passengers in the carriages and commuters. PETA India notes that using injured and malnourished horses for carriage rides violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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