PETA India Brings New Victorian-Style E-Carriage to Kolkata to Replace Horses Used to Haul Tourists

For Immediate Release:

28 July 2022

Contact:

Samit Roy;  [email protected]

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Kolkata – At a press conference today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and CAPE Foundation displayed a new Victorian-style e-carriage that could replace Kolkata’s horse-drawn vehicles as Mumbai has already done. The use of horse-drawn carriages in Kolkata has left horses injured, diseased, and malnourished and caused traffic accidents. The press conference featured a message from the additional commissioner (Retired) of the transport department of Maharashtra government and testimonials from Mumbai e-carriage drivers and tourists who have tried the e-carriages in use there.

The photos and videos from today’s event are available upon request.

The e-carriage is a battery-operated, sleek, and environment-friendly vehicle with a vintage Victorian-style design. As PETA India noted at the conference, the new vehicles will not only spare horses pain and suffering but also offer horse-drawn carriage drivers an improved livelihood opportunity. These carriages will help bring Kolkata’s urban heritage rides into the 21^st century. PETA India will display the e-carriage in front of the south gate of the Victoria Memorial on Friday, 29 July, for public viewing.

“Kolkata’s horses suffer from malnourishment, lameness, and festering wounds just to give people rides, but now modern technology offers carriage drivers and tourists a humane, better path,” says PETA India Advocacy Officer Samit Roy. “PETA India requests that local authorities replace horse-drawn carriages with this attractive, sustainable option. PETA India stands ready to provide the horses with a home in a sanctuary.”

Assessment reports by PETA India and the CAPE Foundation have established that more than 100 horses used for rides in the city are anaemic, malnourished, and chronically starved; some suffer 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 also compiled a factsheet highlighting 10 reported road accidents in Kolkata involving horses, highlighting 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 on the road.

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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