Tag Archives: buffalo fighting

Tough way to ban the festival of buffalo fighting in India

The ban on races and cattle fighting in India often faces protests from people and many festivals are still taking place informally.

In January every year, thousands of people in southern India, mostly young people, took to the streets to protest to lift the ban on the organization of the Jallikattu bull and bull festival.

In 2016, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that all races or competitions using animals were banned. Earlier, in 2014, the Court also directly banned Jallikattu.

However, the Jallikattu festival still takes place in Tamil Nadu state earlier this year and attracts thousands of followers. In the same month and more than 3,000 km away, buffalo fights also took place “secretly” in the state of Assam.

Indian officials’ ban on animal-related sports activities often faces opposition across the country and entails exemptions and exemptions.

Backing animal protection organizations is prohibited

Jallikattu is a festival with thousands of years of history in southern India. On the festive season, the buffaloes and cows will be bound and confined to agitation. When the door opens, crazy “buffalo” runs out, festival participants will try to tame them by holding the buffalo hump for as long as possible.

From 2008 to 2014, the Jallikattu festival was once allowed under special conditions and under the supervision of the Indian Animal Rights Commission. Investigations during this time showed that the organizers did not take any measures to protect animals from abuse or ensure the safety of participants.

Buffaloes are beaten, dragged, jumped on themselves. On the human side, according to First Post statistics, from 2010 to 2014, at least 17 people were killed and 1,100 injured when participating in domesticated buffaloes and buffaloes at the Jallikattu festival.

But the 2014 Supreme Court’s ban did not work. The bull-and-cow festival is still taking place and protests in the state of Tamil Nadu earlier this year led the state governor to issue an executive order to eliminate Jallikattu from the scope of the Cruelty to Animals Act of India.

The governor’s decree was passed by the Tamil Nadu state parliament and received the support of the prime minister, paving the way for pure buffalo festivals to continue from now on.

Protests against the Jallikattu ban in Tamil Nadu state

However, the protesters were still not satisfied, they requested a legal measure to secure the future for Jallikattu and even demanded a ban on animal protection organization PETA in India.

A local official also admitted that the ban was not easy when it was a tradition of the people.