The Nilgiris Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) on Monday began impounding former race horses, abandoned on the roads of Udhagamandalam by their owners during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Nagina Reddy, nodal officer for the NSPCA, told The Hindu that the former race horses, sold to people in the town for offering rides to tourists, had been left to fend for themselves by their owners since the outbreak of COVID-19. “Since the owners did not have any use for them after the ban on tourism, the horses were left on the streets. Many get injured or killed in accidents,” said Ms. Reddy.
On Monday, three horses were impounded by the NSPCA, with assistance from the Department of Animal Husbandry and the police. The horses were brought to the Ooty Race Course, where they were boarded onto special vehicles using a ramp.
The police were tasked with maintaining law and order and preventing confrontations between horse owners and officials involved in the impounding of animals.
Rama Sasmal, joint-secretary, NSPCA, said around 50 former race horses were being used to offer rides to tourists in Udhagamandalam. “Most of these horses are taken good care of when they are racing, and so, when they retire and are not taken care of by their new owners, the animals get sick quickly and die,” said Ms. Sasmal. She added that most horses, if not looked after properly, die within a span of six months to a year after they retire.
Giving good care
The impounded horses will be taken to Mavanallah, where they will be properly stabled and fed by the India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN).
Ms. Reddy said the Nilgiris District Collector had sanctioned ₹2 lakh to feed the impounded horses.
The horses will be kept and looked after in Mavanallah, until tourism is allowed again in the Nilgiris.
Once word spread among owners that the animals were being impounded, they quickly moved to remove the horses from the town’s roads. The NSPCA vowed to keep track of the animals and to impound any if found roaming the roads.
Jeffrey Kendall, consultant to the Ooty Race Course, said the original owners of the race horses gave them away at the end of their racing careers to “good homes, riding schools and educational institutions”.
“Unfortunately, after the horses are given away, the original owners have very little control over what the new owners do with them, and sometimes, these new owners let them onto roads, where they turn a problem,” he said.
