Agra Police with Support from PETA India, Seize Hundreds of Illegal Spiked Bits Used to Control Horses for Weddings and Tourist Rides Near Taj Mahal
In a significant enforcement action, local police, with PETA India’s support, seized over 170 metal spiked (or “thorn”) bits used to control horses through pain, sending a strong message to ensure that vacations, weddings, and other special occasions do not involve cruelty to animals. With support from teams of PETA India and Brooke India, police officers confiscated the torture devices – which are deliberately designed to cut into the sensitive gum and lip skin in the animals’ mouths – from horse owners using them in the money-making enterprise. The use of these cruel contraptions violates Rule 8 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965, and each one removed was replaced with a painless, smooth bit. Similar law enforcement drives have been recently conducted by local police with support from PETA India in Jaipur, Mysore, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Mohali, and Panchkula, and including Agra, where over 1000 spiked bits were seized
In Agra, the horse owners at Taj East Gate, Taj West Gate, Om Nagar, Chandan Nagar, Davli, Dhanauli, and other nearby areas were found using the illegal spiked bits in the mouths of the horses.
PETA India has launched a nationwide campaign aimed at helping police enforce the ban on using spiked bits on horses. After being contacted by PETA India, several states and union territories – including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Nagaland – also issued orders mandating the enforcement of this prohibition. PETA India is campaigning not only for police to search for and confiscate illegally used devices but also for legislation to be introduced to close a loophole that still allows their manufacture and sale.
As public awareness of the cruelty of spiked bits grows, numerous wedding parties are opting for horse and other animal-free baraat options, from simply walking to arriving in fancy cars and even dropping in by helicopter. Celebrity couples whose weddings were animal-free include Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Rukmini Sahay, Zaheer Khan and Sagarika Ghatge, Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja, and Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal.
Using horses, elephants, camels, or any other animals for weddings is an outdated practice that supports such abuse.
