Maharashtra Police and PETA India to Display Dozens of Seized Spiked Bits Used to Control Horses

For Immediate Release:

11 July 2022

Contact: 

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected] 

Natasha Ittyerah; [email protected] 

Pune – As monsoon season floods Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, and Panchgani with tourists, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and Maharashtra police are planning to display over 100 seized spiked (or “thorn”) bits outside the collector’s office in Pune on 12 July 2022, calling on everyone to enjoy their weddings and visits to the hill stations without using horses. Police had confiscated the bits – which deliberately lacerate animals’ mouths – from horse owners in Kolhapur, Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, and Panchgani. It’s common to use these contraptions to control horses, including those used for wedding ceremonies, through pain, even though this violates Rule 8 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965, and the circular issued by Maharashtra’s Department of Animal Husbandry, which directs authorities to enforce the ban. 

When: Tuesday, 12 July, 12 noon sharp  

Where: New Collector Office Building, Station Road, opposite Sasoon General Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra 411001 

“Spiked bits control horses through pain, bloodying lips and tongues. They inflict psychological trauma and lifelong damage,” says PETA India Advocacy Associate Natasha Ittyerah. “PETA India is urging tourists to sightsee without harming animals and asking everyone to leave horses out of weddings, because these animals deserve happiness and a pain-free life, too.” 

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – held a similar law-enforcement drive in April with Delhi police. The group has launched a nationwide campaign aimed at helping police enforce the ban on using spiked bits. After being contacted by PETA India, Maharashtra’s Department of Animal Husbandry issued a circular on 19 March 2020 directing the collector and district deputy commissioner of animal husbandry to enforce the ban and also requested the chief secretary of the state to notify rules to prohibit the manufacture and sale of spiked bits.  

Several other states and union territories – including Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh – have also issued orders mandating the enforcement of this prohibition. PETA India is campaigning not only for police to search for and confiscate the illegally used devices but also for legislation to be introduced to close a loophole that still allows the manufacture and sale of these devices.  

For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. 

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