Soul stirring: Horse impaled on fence in Kolkata Maidan, PETA India lodges FIR
Kolkata, Aug 3 : The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has registered an FIR on the incidence of a two-year-old horse becoming impaled on a fence at the Kolkata Maidan.
In the FIR, the animal rights organisation said the horse sustained a large wound on his stomach, which led to the intestines to spill out.
“The FIR was filed according to Indian Penal Code sections 289 (for negligent conduct with an animal causing risk to human life, as the horse posed a risk to pedestrians and vehicular traffic) and 429 (for the maiming of an animal, in this case through neglect) and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960,” said PETA-India’s deputy director of advocacy projects Harshil Maheshwari.
In the FIR, the group also alleged that although the matter of cruelty was brought to the notice of the state animal resource development department and the latters’ assistance was sought in getting the horse treated, no veterinarian came to to treat the horse on site.
Accordingly, the horse was loaded onto a truck and transported to a veterinary hospital, which is about 10 km away from the site of the incident, without being given any sedatives, worsening his condition and causing him to endure extreme suffering,
The PETA India official further claimed that the veterinary hospital had no surgical instruments, suture materials, anaesthetic or painkillers and was ill-equipped to handle the injured animal.
“How many horses and commuters have to become injured or die before horse-drawn carriages are finally replaced by modern mechanical carriages? PETA India hears from kind locals and tourists alike who are upset by the poor condition of these horses,” Maheshwari added.
