Navi Mumbai: All the three severely injured bulls recently admitted to the Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals in Parel with broken front legs, have died. Animal rights activists strongly suspect the bulls ended in this pitiable situation because they were forced to run at high speed. An FIR has been lodged at the Taloja police station in Panvel taluka.
A member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA India) told TOI: “We suspect the three bulls were either being trained to run fast or were participating in a local bull-cart race at Taloja, leading to their fractured front legs. While one bull had succumbed to its injuries earlier, the other two bovines have also passed away. We therefore contacted Navi Mumbai police department and lodged an FIR on Nov 30.”
TOI had on November 23, published a news report on how these bulls with serious injuries were admitted to the Parel animal hospital.
The FIR is against unidentified person(s) for the killing of a bull that hailed from Taloja. The FIR was registered under section 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which criminalises killing, maiming, poisoning or rendering any animal useless.
“PETA India urges the police to ensure a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the deaths of all three bulls. We also thank the Navi Mumbai joint commissioner of police, Sanjay Yenpure (IPS), for quickly instructing filing of this FIR,” said PETA India Cruelty Response Coordinator, Virendra Singh. “While bullock cart races have been legalised in Maharashtra, causing so much pain and suffering to the animals in the name of ‘tradition’ is just not right. Bulls and other cattle species are not naturally suited to run at high speeds, as is often seen in such races. This leads to terrible injuries and even deaths, just for a few moments of thrill and excitement for humans,” said Singh.
A Navi Mumbai police official has confirmed that post-mortem of one of the bulls was carried out on Dec 1, after the FIR was lodged.