Following Bengaluru, No Kambala Event to be Held Near Pilikula Zoo Until High Court of Karnataka Considers PETA India’s Objections
The Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka said that the planned Kambala buffalo race scheduled for 17 November 2024, or any related activity near Pilikula Biological Park (zoo), will not proceed until the next hearing in this matter. This came in response to a petition filed by PETA India, highlighting the severe risks that Kambala poses to the buffaloes forced to race and the zoo’s resident wildlife, including over 1,200 animals, if Kambala is permitted to be held near the zoo as has been planned. PETA India’s petition was prompted by media reports on Kambala events planned from 26 October 2024 to 19 April 2025 in various locations across Karnataka, including non-coastal areas such as Bengaluru and Shivamogga, where these events were never traditionally held. The matter is now adjourned to 20 November.
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PETA India’s petition points out noise pollution can severely affect the zoo’s animals. Specifically, PETA India argues noise pollution can change the feeding, child-rearing, sleeping and mating behaviour of the zoo’s animals. Noise can also have physiological effects on the animals, such as increasing their heart rate and changing their breathing as they panic. Trapped as they are in cages and enclosures, PETA India warns the animals may also injure themselves as they try to escape. Captive animals who are severely stressed also often start demonstrating abnormal repetitive behaviours such as circling, swaying, and biting their cage bars, or they may become withdrawn and depressed into a helpless state. Because many species in zoos are prey animals, they would also feel stressed from being unable to hear potential danger from predators due to the noise.
The High Court also allowed local wildlife conservationist and resident Bhuvan M. to join the case as an intervenor. Bhuvan, a native of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, presented compelling arguments about Kambala event’s harmful effects on local wildlife.
PETA India also warns buffaloes too are prey animals and so are innately nervous. Men who use them for races deliberately incite them to run by bullying them – causing them pain, panic, and fear. Investigations conducted by PETA India into Kambala events reveal buffaloes tethered without food or water, beaten with sticks, and forcibly restrained with painful nose ropes. They are shouted at, slapped, and roughly handled at the starting point, often showing signs of fear and distress. In Bengaluru, the exhausted buffaloes were forced to race on a longer 155-metre track, leading to severe physiological stress, as evidenced by heavy salivation, frothing at the mouth, and laboured breathing.
In 2014, the Supreme Court passed a detailed and well-reasoned judgement in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja & Ors that holding Kambala and other bull performances would violate the rights guaranteed to animals under the Constitution of India and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. However, after this Judgment was passed, beginning in 2017, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra amended animal protection laws for their states to allow Jallikattu, Kambala, and bullock cart races, respectively in areas where it has been traditionally conducted. On 18 May 2023, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court also enabled these events to continue in these states.
PETA India has long campaigned against the use of bulls in performances.
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