Madras High Court lays down guidelines for transportation of cattle in humane manner

Madras High Court orders end to cruel cattle transportation practices, sets strict guidelines for animal safety during journeys.

The Madras High Court has ordered an end to the practice of smearing chilli flakes on the eyes of cattle to keep them awake during long journeys and also to prevent them from sitting/lying down so that as many number of animals as possible could be dumped inside the motor vehicles. It has laid down elaborate guidelines to be followed by the cattle transporters.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar ordered that there should be adequate space for the animals to turn around and lie down during the journey and insisted on ensuring the safety of the cattle when the animals are made to board or deboard the motor vehicles. “Ramps and loading docks should be designed to prevent the cattle from slipping or falling,” the judge ordered.

The vehicles, transporting cattle, must be properly ventilated and warm temperatures must be ensured. Food and water should be provided to the animals, during frequent intervals, if they have to be taken on a long journey and their fitness should be ascertained before the journey. They must also be periodically checked for signs of distress/injury/illness during the journey, the judge said.

The motor vehicles should be cleaned thoroughly before being used for transportation of cattle in order to avoid spread of diseases from one animal to another. Further, the transporters must ensure the presence of all necessary documents including medical certificates issued by authorised veterinarians certifying the distance and duration for which the animals could be transported, he added.

The guidelines were issued while dismissing a couple of civil revision petitions filed by three individuals Abbas Manthiri, Mariyappan and Thiyagarajan who had been booked by the Chengalpattu police last year on the charge of having transported 96 bulls and two calves, in an inhumane manner in two different container lorries, towards Kerala and other places for slaughter.

The petitioners had sought return of the seized cattle claiming that the animals were actually being transported for farming and breeding purposes. However, Additional Public Prosecutor A. Damodaran told the court that the claim of breeding was false since most of the cattle had been castrated. He also said, the drivers had categorically admitted that the animals were transported for slaughter.

The APP told the court that most of the animals were below 10 years of age and that the drivers were not in possession of proper documents at the time of seizure. On their part, senior counsel Satish Parasaran and advocate Madhumitha, representing the two complainants M. Vignesh and R. Raguram Sharma at whose instance the cattle were seized, also opposed the petitioners’ plea.