Bhubaneswar: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has written to the director generals of police of all state governments including Odisha and union territories to keep an eye on illegal transport and killing of animals in the lead-up to Bakr-Eid.
It requested the DGPs to take all possible precautionary measures to stop the activities in the lead-up to Bakr-Eid (July 31) – “which was also advised by the Animal Welfare Board of India earlier.”
“All religions call for compassion – none requires killing or eating animals, and hacking them to death with weapons is just plain cruel,” said PETA India Advocacy Associate Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman. “The state governments have a duty to uphold and enforce India’s animal protection laws, and PETA India is calling on authorities to prohibit the cutting of animals’ throats by untrained people in the street.”
In its letters, PETA India pointed out that on two matters regarding the sacrifice and killing of animals for meat: “the Supreme Court ruled that animals can be slaughtered only in officially licensed slaughterhouses and that municipal authorities must ensure compliance with this ruling. The laws regarding preventing cruelty to animals and the food safety and standards guidelines permit the slaughter of animals for food only in registered or licensed slaughterhouses equipped with species-specific stunning equipment and do not permit killing camels for meat, a common practice during Bakr-Eid.” Laws on the transportation of animals are also frequently violated during this festival, it added.
Earlier, the Odisha government had sanctioned `54 lakh to feed stray animals in various cities and towns across the state as they are struggling to find food during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.