PeTA asks Karnataka government to take cognisance of cruel methods used to kill poultry

Belagavi: Gripped by panic over the outbreak of the novel coronavirus or Covid-19, coupled with reports of bird flu in the country, poultry farmers across the state have taken to culling their livestock en masse. Taking cognisance of this panic-driven activity, People for Ethical Treatment for Animals (PeTA), India on Thursday wrote to the Karnataka government, seeking directions to stop culling of livestock using cruel and illegal means.
Among the more shocking incidents reported in the state was from Gokak in Belagavi, where a farmer buried 6,000 chickens alive on March 9. In all, roughly 16,000 chickens have reportedly been culled across Karnataka in the past week, and in many cases, the methods used to end their life have been brutal. Under these circumstances, PeTA India has urged the Karnataka department of animal husbandry to take note of the scale of the problem, and pursuant steps to put an end to the same.
Stressing the need to cull livestock in a humane manner, wherein they experience the least amount of pain possible, PeTA, in its letter, stated, “The department must promote methods of culling recommended by the Animal Welfare Board of India, the central government’s advisory body and the World Organisation for Animal Health, the international agency responsible for keeping a close watch on animal health across the world, and India is a member nation of this body.”
The animal rights body pointed out that killing of poultry using methods such as burying them alive was in violation of Sections 3 and 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Violation of these laws can invite punishment as stringent as imprisonment for up to five years.
Veterinarian and PeTA India chief executive officer Dr Manilal Valliyate, in a mail to TOI, wrote, “The savagery displayed by the farmers is yet another stark reminder to the public that, regardless of how one goes about it – burying them alive or slitting throats – chickens are always killed in a cruel manner. Poultry farms breed bird flu and other diseases. Chickens used for production of eggs are also commonly mutilated, starved and severely confined. The condition of those used for the meat industry is worse as they are housed in filthy sheds. They are fed, and bred in such a manner that they grow to be so large wherein their bones cannot take the load, and they grow more prone to heart attacks. We urge the public to spare themselves and the chickens this misery by choosing to eat only vegan food.”
PeTA India has also interacted with the authorities concerned to communicate to farmers the need to report outbreak of diseases in their barns. “They must visit the nearest government veterinary hospital so that methods animals are killed in accordance with the rules of the Animal Welfare Board of India,” Dr Valliyate added.