Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court today quashed the Assam government’s December 27, 2023 SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) that allowed buffalo and bulbul bird fights during a certain period of the year (in January).
The bench of Justice Devashis Baruah of the high court heard the petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India today. Listing the petition before Justice Devashis Baruah, PETA India’s senior advocate, Diganta Das made detailed submissions in support of the petitioner. He argued that buffalo and bulbul fights violate the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and that the bulbul fights additionally violate the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 that were accepted by the court.
The Gauhati High Court further held the SOP to be in violation of the judgement passed on May 7, 2014, by the Supreme Court in the Animal Welfare Board of India vs. A. Nagaraja case.
As evidence, PETA India submitted investigations into these fights that revealed that terrified and severely injured buffaloes were forced to fight through beatings and that starved and intoxicated bulbuls were made to fight over food. PETA India also submitted numerous examples of fights being held illegally, outside the dates allowed via the SOP, arguing that allowing the fights at any time of the year was resulting in enormous animal abuse.
“Buffaloes and bulbuls are gentle animals who feel pain and terror and do not want to be forced into bloody fights in front of jeering crowds,” says PETA India lead legal counsel Arunima Kedia. “PETA India is grateful to the Gauhati High Court for prohibiting cruelty to animals in the form of fights that are clear violations of central law and Supreme Court orders.”
According to PETA sources, an investigation into a buffalo fight held in Ahatguri in the Morigaon district of Assam on January 16, 2024, by PETA India revealed that to instigate buffaloes to fight, owners slapped, pushed, and shoved them; jabbed and struck them with wooden sticks; and pulled them by their nose-ropes to force them to approach one another. When fights were underway, some owners and handlers jabbed the buffaloes with sticks and whacked them with bare hands to cause them further distress. The buffaloes locked horns and fought, sustaining bloody wounds to their necks, ears, faces, and foreheads—many had injuries all over their bodies. The fights lasted until one of the two buffaloes broke away and fled.
PETA sources further said an investigation conducted into a bulbul bird fight in Hajo in Assam on January 15, 2024, revealed that red-vented bulbuls—who are protected under Schedule II of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972—were illegally captured and incited, against their natural instincts, to fight over food.
The sources further said that birds are captured several days before the fight. Capturing protected wild birds is considered a form of hunting and is illegal.
The birds are reportedly drugged with marijuana and fed other intoxicating herbs, bananas, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon to agitate them, and then they are starved for at least one night before the fight. During the fight, a piece of banana is dangled in front of the hungry birds, inciting them to attack each other. Each fight lasted approximately five to 10 minutes, and handlers forced exhausted birds to continue fighting by repeatedly blowing air on them.
Also Read: Assam: Gauhati HC Seeks Explanation From Assam Govt Over Buffalo, Bulbul Fights
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