Animal rights groups step up campaign against horse carriages

Thane (Maharashtra), June 14 (IANS) Strongly pitching for banning horse-drawn carriages, citing cruelty to the animal, rights groups Thursday asked the civic authorities here to issue motorised rickshaw licences to carriage owners willing to switch.

Representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Plant & Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) asked the civic chief of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, R.K. Somawane to take speedy step in that direction.

Somawane assured PETA and PAWS that no new licences to drive horse carriages will be issued once the existing carriage drivers move to motor rickshaws, a PETA official said.

There have been numerous accidents in which both horses and humans have been seriously injured or even killed because of horse-drawn carriages.

Recently, a horse carriage skidded at Gateway of India in Mumbai and seriously injured two passengers.

In September last year, another horse pulling a carriage collapsed from exhaustion.

Horses in Mumbai are forced to live in filthy, damp stables amidst their own faeces and urine and are often left to stand without any shade, which is a clear violation of law.