Major manufacturers of anti-toxins in India are under fire for sick, malnourished and neglected horses. A series of inspections carried out in 10 facilities countrywide by veterinarians and experts from prominent veterinary colleges and non-profit organisations on animal welfare — including People For Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) — have revealed widespread abuse and neglect of thousands of equines in the country and their use as “living factories” to produce antitoxins and antivenins.
The report of the findings was obtained through RTI from the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) under the Ministry of Environment. PETA has appealed to the Ministry to shut down such equine-abusing facilities.
These inspections were authorised by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). The facilities inspected include — Serum Institute of India, VINS BioProducts limited, Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation limited and King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research among others. All these institutions, except for Serum Institute of India, were housing the equines (horses, mules and donkeys) in abject conditions for extraction of large volumes of blood to make antitoxins or antivenins.
Bleeding records in most of the inspected facilities indicate that most of these animals are bled several times a month and have more blood drawn than is permissible by CPCSEA, said Dr Dipti Kapoor from PETA.
Inspectors further recorded numerous violations of laws and guidelines. Many of the facilities were not even registered with the CPCSEA to use animals. Section 4(a) of the Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control and Supervision) Rules, 1998, states, “No establishment shall perform any experiment on animals unless it is registered.”
“In facilities across India, frightened, lame and malnourished equines are left to suffer without proper veterinary care while being used as living blood bags for antitoxin and antivenin producers”, says PETA India CEO Poorva Joshipura.
Inspectors observed equines who cowered or became defensive in response to human contact were otherwise apathetic. They found that the animals suffered from poor nutrition, digestive tract diseases, painful lesions on their legs, severe abnormalities and skin diseases such as ringworm infestation.
Equines were also forced to stand in their own excreta in crowded, dirty and waterlogged sheds. Seriously ill animals were housed together with healthy ones, placing the latter at risk of contracting infectious diseases such as glanders, equine influenza and equine herpes virus.