Tamil Nadu cracks down on hare procession, 'Pig jallikattu'

CHENNAI: Acting on the complaints filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), police and forest officials in Tamil Nadu have arrested 11 people for organising a pig jallikattu and fined five more for taking out a hare in procession.

In the jallikattu case, Theni police arrested 11 people under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 143 and 289. Likewise, they were also booked under Section 11(1) (m) (ii) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. All 11 have managed bail. Theni is 510 km southwest of Chennai.

In the hare capture and procession case in Dharmapuri, forest department officials registered a preliminary offence report (POR) under Sections 2(16), 9 and 54 of the Wildlife (Protection) (WPA) Act, 1972.

Five villagers were also fined Rs 5,000 each for the illegal capture and procession of the wild rabbit. Dharmapuri is 300 km southwest of Chennai.

PETA India swung into action after it received numerous complaints of the illegal pig jallikattu, in which people were seen pulling the pigs' tails, grabbing their hind legs, pulling them backwards and other forms of harmful behaviour towards them.

In the hare case, people were pulling it backwards with its hind legs, pulled its ears and after the end of the procession, it was released into a bush.

"It's unacceptable in a civilised society to capture, torment, and terrify animals for any purpose," said PETA India emergency response team associate manager Meet Ashar. PETA also called on authorities to prevent these kinds of events from taking place in the future and to hold all perpetrators accountable for subjecting pigs and protected wild hares from being harmed.

According to PETA, it is illegal to incite a pig to fight with a human under the PCA Act. PETA representatives also reminded that hares are protected under WPA, which prohibits their hunting, trapping, capturing and other offences. These developments occurred in the first week of February. (IANS)

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