Lucknow, July 22 Even as the Muslim clerics and Islamic seminaries seek a lifting of the ban on animal slaughter for Bakrid, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has written to the police chiefs of all the states. It has called upon them to take all possible precautionary measures to stop the illegal transport and killing of animals in the lead-up to Bakrid.
PETA India Advocacy Associate Pradeep Ranjan Doley Barman said in a statement, "All religions call for compassion none requires killing or eating animals, and hacking them to death with weapons is just plain cruel."
He said that 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 open.
PETA India, in its letter, has pointed out that on two matters regarding the sacrifice and killing of animals for meat, the Supreme Court has 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.
Laws on the transportation of animals are also frequently violated during this festival.
PETA India said that thousands of goats, buffaloes, camels, and other animals are killed during festivals such as Bakrid, which will be celebrated on August 1 this year.
"Common illegal practices during these holidays include cramming animals onto severely crowded trucks which routinely causes suffocation and broken bones breaking their tails and beating them to keep them moving while marching them to the place of sacrifice, and slaughter by untrained people who slit animals' throats with dull knives in full view of one another and, often, in front of traumatised and upset children who want to protect them from harm," the PETA statement said.
( With inputs from IANS )