Bull Suffers Leg Fracture During Jallikattu
UPDATE: On 7May 2014, the Honourable Supreme Court of India banned jallikattu, bull races, bullfights and other uses of bulls in performances.
Just one day after a bull died from a head-on collision with a moving passenger bus, an inspector authorised by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, reported that a bull sustained a crippling leg and fetlock joint fracture during the jallikattu event held on Tuesday, 15 January 2013, in Palamedu.
The terrified bull was being chased by a mob carrying sticks on a narrow road. In an effort to protect himself, the panicked bull jumped more than 10 feet off the road and onto a field.
No medical aid was supplied to the bull, who sustained a fractured leg, until 90 minutes after the incident, and the help that was eventually provided came only after the AWBI inspector pleaded with the police and other authorities to arrange help.
The inspector also reported seeing participants beat animals, twist their tailbones and poke them with sickles and knives. He even saw police hit, poke and prod bulls with their lathis.
Furthermore, the inspector observed organizers forcibly rubbing a bull’s nose and eyes with a liquid in order to disorient him.
PETA is now calling on authorities to ban jallikattu since it puts both animals’ and people’s lives at risk. You can help stop this.
