Thane: The smooth coordination between animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and rural police, coupled with the swift action taken by the latter, stopped a scheduled illegal bullock cart race in Shahapur’s Ambarje village much before it could commence on Sunday.On getting a tip off about a bullock cart race to be held in Shahpur on Sunday morning, PETA members immediately reached out to the Thane rural superintendent of police for help on Saturday night.“I got a call from a local in the area, who informed me that a few local bullock owners had organized a bullock race on Sunday morning and were inviting monetary bets for the same. As the Supreme Court (SC) has made it clear that such bullock cart races are illegal as they involve the beating of bulls with sticks and stabbing them with nails to force them to run, I immediately reached out to the Thane rural police the night before the scheduled race,” said Meet Ashar, PETA India lead emergency response coordinator.The Thane rural police then reached out to the organisers of the race and warned them that the execution of such an event was banned by the SC and they would be booked for cruelty to animals.While the organisers immediately called off the event, animal rights activists claimed that such illegal bullock cart racing events have become common across the state and many taking place in the interior regions continue to go unnoticed.“Over the past six months, we have prevented 25 to 30 such races from taking place in Maharashtra. However, as these illegal activities take place in remote villages, there may be many more that go unchecked,” said Asher.

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