Chandigarh: Police seize 200 thorn bits used to control horses in weddings

As part of the awareness drive on cruelty against animals, a team of Chandigarh Police and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Thursday seized 200 spiked (thorn) bits used to control ceremonial horses

As part of the awareness drive on cruelty against animals, the police and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, on Thursday, seized 200 spiked (thorn) bits used to control ceremonial horses.

Thorn bits are fitted into mouths of horses used for ceremonies, such as weddings and rides to control them through pain.

The bits were removed from horses kept in different areas, including Sector-38, Sector-41 and Daddu Majra Colony. Also, safer bits were provided by PETA workers to the owners of the horses. During the drive, the horse owners were sensitised about harms of using old-fashioned bits. They were also advised to avoid use of such spiked bits in future too.

PETA has urged people to celebrate weddings without animals to save them from cruelty. Police confiscated the torture devices— which are designed deliberately to incise animals’ mouths— from horse owners as the use of these contraptions violates rule 8 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965. The spiked bits were displayed at Maloya police station.

“Spiked bits are used to control horses, who go through pain, bloodying lips and tongues, inflicting psychological trauma and life-long damage,” says PETA India advocacy associate Natasha Ittyerah.

PETA India held a similar law enforcement drive in July with Maharashtra police and in April with Delhi police. The group has launched a nationwide campaign aimed at helping police enforce the ban on use of spiked bits on horses.

After being contacted by PETA India, several other states and union territories, including Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh, also issued orders mandating the enforcement of this prohibition. PETA India is not only campaigning for the confiscation of the illegally used devices, but also for the introduction of a legislation to stop the manufacturing and sale of the crude devices.