This week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India delivered an explosive new assessment report to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and officials from the West Bengal Government’s Home Department and Animal Resource Development Department, as well as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Commissioner of Police Kolkata.

It described the dire conditions of horses used in Kolkata’s horse-drawn carriage industry between November 20 and December 20. The new report establishes that cruel practices such as forcing emaciated and injured horses to work have continued since the first assessment last year and that the most serious injuries to horses are caused by being hit by cars and other vehicles, which often results in slow, painful deaths.

PETA India has released a new report on 20 horses discovered near the Victoria Memorial and under the Hastings flyover. Horses with fractures or multiple fractures, a horse that collapsed on the road, horses with open festering wounds, a partially blind horse, and a horse that died from suspected rabies are among the findings. The majority of the horses were severely emaciated and chronically malnourished, implying that Kolkata’s horses have been starving for a long time and are routinely denied basic nutrition. The horses are also denied proper farriery and veterinary services, according to the report. The feces of the animals strewn about the city pose tetanus and other health risks to humans.

“Horses in the City of Joy have no joy,” says PETA India Advocacy Officer Samit Roy. “PETA India is urging authorities to replace horses with environmentally friendly electric carriages to prevent fractures and festering wounds caused by traffic accidents and other forms of cruelty.”

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 prohibits the use of injured and malnourished horses for carriage rides, according to PETA India. The absence of a system for collecting and disposing of horse feces appears to be a breach of the Calcutta High Court’s order. The court had ordered that “measures be taken by the owners of each hackney carriage for removing dung excreted by the horses” in an order dated 22 January 2013.

For more details, visit: PETAIndia.com