Recently, police seized almost 400 kgs of donkey meat in different places of Hyderabad, Telengana (India). People believe in this region that eating donkey meat can cure severe back pain and asthma. As per the livestock census in 2019, the numbers of donkeys have reduced to 12 lakhs, which is almost 61% less in the last seven years.
Is slaughtering donkey meat banned in India?
Under the section 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), slaughtering donkeys is prohibited in India. People in any of the states generally don’t eat donkey meat. But the surprising fact is in the last seven years, the population of donkeys reduced by 61% in India. As per the law, if convicted for slaughtering and selling donkey meat, then the convicted person can be sent behind the bars for five years, or asked for big fine, or both. In these type of cases, Animal Cruelty Act is also levied on the convicted person, for strict punishments.
In the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, it is clearly mentioned that slaughtering and consuming donkey meat is absolutely illegal in India. According to the livestock census conducted in 2019, the numbers of donkeys in India has come down to 12 lakhs, compared to 32 lakhs in 2012. Another vital reason is the high demand of donkey meat in China.
Complaint from PETA
PETA India (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) lodged a complaint with the local police in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh against some of the local slaughter houses for slaughtering and selling donkey meat. Last Monday (17th October 2022), local police seized 400 kgs of donkey meat and arrested 7 people during this operation.
This is not the first time when PETA started some campaign to protect the animals and it really helped them. A troop of monkeys were kept in cages for weeks in the forests of Andhra Pradesh and with the help of PETA campaign, local police released those monkeys. These monkeys were kept in the cage without food and water for weeks inside the premises of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) office.
Recently, BookMyShow (online portal to book tickets for various events) removed the animal circus events from their platform. Eventually, a poster was posted outside the office of BookMyShow where the famous Indian boxer, Vijender Singh urged people with a slogan “Knock out cruelty: Boycott circuses”. It was posted to protect the animal cruelty happens at the circus.
My personal opinion
I used to be a big time meat, fish and egg eater 3 years ago. But when I turned vegan for my health concerns, I also realised how much of pain we put on animals through for slaughtering them. Eating lamb, chicken, beef and so on must be sumptuous, but we don’t realise the pain the animals go through. Humans also love eating lobsters, crabs and many other marine animals. The chefs put these living marine animals into boiling water before preparing the mouth-watering dish for the customers. Did it ever come across your mind, how painful it could be for them?
Just imagine, a hot water splash fall onto your hand, or you just cut your finger while chopping vegetables. What’s our instant reaction? “Ouch, oh my god, aahh, its painful. Put your hand under the running cold water. Apply some ice on your injured area. Put some antiseptic ointment and some band-aid.” We do so much to heal our simple injuries which are not even life threatening. But we don’t think once before putting these innocent animals through pain and agony. Is this really kind and humane? I would end this here, with a question to my readers to think on this thoroughly.