Goats flown to Dubai, activists protest over ‘cruelty’

Nagpur: Two years after the Centre abruptly called off the plan to export a consignment of goats to Dubai by air from Nagpur amid protests by animal rights groups, around 3,000 goats and sheep have been sent from the city airport in the last four days. Two chartered planes of Russian Il-76 make took off on Sunday and Tuesday with 1,400 to 1,500 animals, respectively.
Animal welfare activists protested this time too, alleging that the animals were subjected to cruelty before being loaded. On Tuesday, photographs and videos of goats at the airport went viral where they were reportedly kept under suffocating conditions without food and water.
City activist Ankita Shah filed a complaint with Chennai-based Animal Welfare Board of India and other authorities, stating that the animals were brought to Nagpur airport from Rajasthan in a double-decker truck, travelling for almost 2-3 days without food and water. “The goats were not transported safely as they were packed tightly without any ventilation,” Shah stated.
Further, highlighting that the live export of animals leads to extreme cruelty, she demanded that it be banned immediately. “Goats are exposed to dehydration and exhaustion due to insufficient food, water and rest. Also, extreme overcrowding and leads to trampling and deaths of animals,” she said adding that some goats have died in the past due to suffocation.
The airport director Abid Ruhi told TOI that the animals were being sent to Sharjah by M/s Amigo Logistics, a Nashik-based company.
While three flights were scheduled to take off from the city, the third one was abruptly cancelled on Wednesday. Authorities denied cancelling the flight due to opposition from activists.
Sajid Sayyed of Amigo Logistics said that the third had to be called off as the timeline could not be met. “The second flight that came on Monday was supposed to fly off the same night. However, as the process had to be completed, it took one day. The same flight was supposed to come back and take the next consignment, but the third flight’s schedule got disturbed,” said Sayyed.
Sources said that the third consignment was later sent from Hyderabad.
Officials at the Mihan India Limited (MIL) — the airport operator — said, “The protesters were told that the livestock export by air was cleared by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) and the customs department and it could not be stopped. Consignments of livestock regularly take off from Nashik airport.”
In June 2018, Dr Vikas Mahatme, leader of Dhangar community (shepherds) and Rajya Sabha member from BJP, had arranged a similar venture to send 1500 animals from here. The plan was mooted as a means to bring an additional source of income for the region’s farmers.
Even as a flagging off was planned with much fanfare, the plan was called off at the last moment. The consignment that was reaching Nagpur from Nashik returned midway.
At that time Mahatme had told TOI that he was asked by the then union commerce minister Suresh Prabhu to postpone the programme. There were protests by animal rights groups against exports from Nagpur. The consignments continued to go from Nashik.