SINDHUDURG: Upon receiving information about an illegal cockfighting event scheduled to take place in Kudal, Sindhudurg district, through promotional posters, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) took swift action. Working closely with the Sindhudurg Police, timely intervention ensured that the event was successfully prevented from taking place.
In addition to ensuring that the illegal event is cancelled, the Kudal police officials registered a first information report (FIR) against eight individuals under Section 12(c) of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887, and Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, for aiding and abetting the illegal event.
“Cockfighting events are inherently cruel. The prevention of this cruel event highlights the vital role of public vigilance in safeguarding animals,” says PETA India Lead Cruelty Response Coordinator Saloni Sakaria. “We commend the Sindhudurg police, especially Dr Mohan Dahikar IPS, Superintendent of Police, Sindhudurg, for sending a strong message that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.”
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 prohibits inciting animals to fight with each other. In a landmark judgment in 2014, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of the petitioners, PETA India, and the government advisory body, the Animal Welfare Board of India, establishing that bullfighting, dogfighting, and any other staged fights between animals, including between humans and other animals, for entertainment, must end.
Forced to fight, roosters used in cockfights suffer punctured lungs, broken bones, and pierced eyes. Their legs are often fitted with razor-sharp steel blades that have even killed and injured cockfighters and spectators. Illegal cockfighting events are associated with gambling and liquor consumption and are a menace in more ways than one. The transport and handling of roosters for cockfights significantly heighten the risk of spreading deadly bird flu, endangering public health.
PETA India – whose motto reads, “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.